Putting a duck on a perch

But it is doubtful whether the resumption of the Israeli-Palestinian peace talks, which is driven by expediency and short-term crisis management, can achieve any major breakthrough, as it is extremely difficult for the two sides to make concessions on a series of critical issues, including the expansion of Jewish settlements, border demarcation, the status of Jerusalem, Palestinian statehood and the return of prisoners. On the contrary, Netanyahu, who was kept in power earlier this year, is used to taking a hawkish stance on the Palestinian-Israeli talks.

Late last year, Israel launched a widespread campaign, called Pillar of Defense, against targets in Gaza. And after the UN General Assembly voted to grant Palestine non-member observer state status, Israel commenced a large-scale expansion of the construction of Jewish settlements in the West Bank and East Jerusalem despite strong opposition from the international community.

Meanwhile, Hamas, which controls the Gaza Strip has rejected a return to the Israeli-Palestinian peace talks. "Hamas rejects Kerry's announcement of a return to talks and considers the Palestinian Authority's return to negotiations with the occupation to be at odds with the national consensus," Hamas spokesman Sami Abu Zuhri said, adding that West Bank-based Abbas had no legitimate right to negotiate on behalf of the Palestinian people.

Therefore, promoting the peace talks is like putting a duck on a perch, that is to say it will meet with enormous resistance from the beginning. To solve the Palestinian-Israeli issue, the relevant parties must observe the UN resolutions and the principle of "land for peace".

To achieve this, it is necessary to reiterate the four-point proposal made by Chinese President Xi Jinping for the settlement of the Palestinian question during his talks with the visiting Abbas in May. The four-point proposal is as follows: the right direction to follow should be an independent Palestinian State and peaceful co-existence of Palestine and Israel; negotiation should be taken as the only way to peace between Palestine and Israel; principles such as "land for peace" should be firmly upheld; and the international community should provide an important guarantee for progress in the peace process.

Currently, with no breakthrough on the principle, the outlook for the renewed peace talks will not be optimistic.

The author is a senior fellow with the Chahar Institute and a researcher with the Institute of West Asian and African Studies at the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences.