The "Chinese connection" is very deep, from refugees to the president, at the age of 88, he is Palestine | China | refugee

Author: Xu Ye

At the invitation of President Xi Jinping, President Mahmoud Abbas of the State of Palestine paid a state visit to China from June 13 to 16.

The two heads of state announced the establishment of a strategic partnership between China and Pakistan.

Xi Jinping pointed out that China and Pakistan are good friends and partners who trust and support each other.

As the first Arab head of state received by the Chinese side this year, Abbas is not only a "good friend" of the Chinese people, but also an "old friend" - this is his fifth state visit to China, and he has visited China multiple times before, totaling no less than 20 times.

His life experience is very legendary: when he was young, he became a refugee due to war and had to travel to a foreign land for more than 40 years; During this time, he worked as an elementary school teacher, obtained a PhD in history, and later became the right-hand man of former Palestinian leader Arafat.

"It can be said that Abbas devoted his entire life to the just cause of leading the Palestinian people to restore their legitimate national rights," Ding Long, a professor at the Middle East Research Institute of Shanghai Foreign Studies University, told Global Times reporters.

Chinese Romance

Abbas is 88 years old this year.

Many people know that he is low-key and dislikes spotlights. In 2003, when he was officially appointed as the first Prime Minister of the Palestinian National Authority, he deliberately avoided the camera of reporters at the venue, either leaning his face to support his cheeks or looking down at the manuscript, with almost no expression on his face.

But for visiting China, his enthusiasm has always been high.

Safarini, who served as the Palestinian Ambassador to China for many years, introduced that since the 1970s, Arafat has visited China 16 times, almost always accompanied by Abbas.

After the death of Arafat, Abbas reached the pinnacle of power.

He made four state visits to China in 2005, 2010, 2013, and 2017. During an interview with Chinese media, he said, "The outcome of this visit cannot be described as' good ', but as' very good'!"

He also said, "The topic of discussion between Palestine and China will always be friendly and friendly, and there are no additional conditions for China's exchanges with Palestine!"

·Abbas data chart.

For many years, Abbas has attached great importance to relations with China.

In 1999, as the Secretary General of the Executive Committee of the Palestine Liberation Organization, he visited China and thanked China for providing political, moral, and material support to Palestine at different times. He also admired China's tremendous achievements in various fields and expressed support for China's reunification cause.

In 2004, the young Abbas suffered setbacks in politics and resigned from his position as prime minister before returning to China to discuss with Chinese scholars engaged in Middle East research.

He expressed trust in China and believed that Palestine should learn more from China's development experience, while expecting China to play a greater role in the Middle East issue.

It is said that he brought his wife with him during his visit to China, hoping that traditional Chinese medicine could treat her rheumatism.

"Abbas once privately told me that every time he comes to China, there is a significant change in the country's appearance. Every time he goes to Beijing, he thinks that Beijing is more beautiful than before and people wear better clothes."

Safarini said, "Abbas is a pragmatic person who doesn't like to show off and always avoids the media, but he is indeed a sincere politician."

From refugees to PhDs

Abbas was born in the northern Palestinian city of Safad in 1935. This is located on the northwest side of Lake Galilee, and has been a village since the 2nd century BC. The locals are famous for their longevity.

His family lives near a wholesale market in the town, and his father runs a grocery store that mainly sells vegetables, canned goods, etc.

In 1948, a peaceful life was shattered by war. To avoid the disaster of war, a large number of Palestinians left their hometowns. Young Abbas also fled to Syria with his family and became a refugee.

This made his educational journey exceptionally tortuous: in the first two years of exile, he had to interrupt his studies to become a child laborer; After returning to campus, I completed my junior high school studies and became a teacher in elementary school; While teaching and self-learning, I managed to obtain a high school diploma through hard work; Later, he entered the University of Damascus in Syria to study and obtained a Bachelor of Laws degree.

After graduating from university, Abbas joined the Qatar Ministry of Education as the Director of Personnel. During his journey to the West Bank and Gaza Strip to recruit Palestinians to work in Qatar, he gained a deeper understanding of the social conditions in Palestine.

In 1959, he participated in the formation of the Palestinian National Liberation Movement and was primarily responsible for managing Fatah's financial affairs in the first Fatah Central Committee.

·Abbas data chart.

The busy work did not make Abbas give up on continuing his studies.

Due to his great interest in Israeli research, he went to the Moscow Institute of Oriental Studies in the Soviet Union to pursue a doctoral degree in history. His research scope was not limited to the Israeli Palestinian conflict, but also covered various aspects of Israel's politics, economy, and society.

In those days, this was a very courageous thing. In that era, Arabs or Palestinians still regarded reading books about Israeli society as a "scandal". Therefore, Abbas's research and discourse have received a lot of criticism and ridicule, and he himself has even been criticized as a "traitor to Palestine".

It was during his studies at the Moscow Oriental Academy that Abbas, through systematic research and profound reflection, gradually formed a viewpoint: Palestine and Israel must coexist peacefully in order to solve existing problems.

What we want is peace, not violence

Abbas has become a representative figure of the "dove faction" of the PLO.

Since 1991, he has served as the representative of the Palestinian side to negotiate with Israel. In 1993, he held 14 rounds of secret negotiations with the Israeli side in Oslo, the capital of Norway. In September of the same year, he and the then Israeli Foreign Minister jointly signed the first peace agreement between Palestine and Israel - the Oslo Accords.

After the agreement was signed, Abbas secretly returned to his hometown. Looking at his homeland, which had been separated for many years, he, who was almost sixty years old, burst into tears.

At this moment, he still doesn't know what kind of storms he will face in the future.

In 1996, he became the second most prominent figure in the PLO, second only to Arafat. In 2003, he was appointed as the Prime Minister of the Palestinian National Authority. However, in just 130 days, he resigned with a heavy heart. One of the reasons is that he and Arafat had disagreements on how to deal with the Palestinian radical faction.

Along with his career setbacks, he also experienced the pain of losing his son - in 2002, his eldest son Mazan died suddenly due to a heart attack. The white haired man sent the black haired man away, and Abu Mazan was heartbroken.

·Abbas data chart.

2004 was a turning point in Abbas's life.

At the end of October of that year, Arafat's condition suddenly worsened, and on his deathbed, he entrusted his career to Abbas. Although there have been differences between the two sides, the friendship and trust formed through years of joint struggle are still profound.

Abbas lived up to his expectations. At the beginning of the following year, he was elected as the President of the Palestinian National Authority. In 2008, he was elected as the President of the State of Palestine and has been re elected ever since.

Over the years, the Israeli Palestinian peace talks have been tumultuous, but Abbas has never lost patience.

"What I need is peace, not violence; I hope the Palestinian people can live a normal life with normal people's clothing, food, housing, and transportation," Abbas explained his governing philosophy.

The Palestinian issue cannot be marginalized

However, since 2014, the Israeli Palestinian peace talks have come to a standstill.

"The important background of Abbas' visit to China this time is that the Palestinian issue is gradually being marginalized," said Ding Long, a professor at the Institute of Middle East Studies at Shanghai Foreign Studies University. Since September 2020, under the so-called "Abraham Agreement" in the United States, four Arab countries - the United Arab Emirates, Bahrain, Sudan, and Morocco - have successively announced the normalization of relations with Israel, and some Arab countries have moved towards easing relations with Israel, shifting the focus of the Middle East situation.

Ding Long stated that the United States is an important factor influencing the Middle East peace process, but has hardly played an effective role in promoting peace talks between Palestine and Israel. The "four party mechanism" composed of the United Nations, the United States, Russia, and the European Union has not played its due role in the nearly 10 years of stalled peace talks.

In May 2021, the largest armed conflict between Palestine and Israel erupted since 2014, with over 200 Palestinians killed, including dozens of children. At least 12 people, including two children, also died on the Israeli side. "Since the beginning of this year, there have been constant conflicts between Palestine and Israel, some of which are even rare and serious in the past decade."

Based on these backgrounds, Ding Long believes that Abbas's visit has three purposes:

One is to continue the traditional friendship between China and Pakistan. China was one of the earliest countries to recognize the Palestine Liberation Organization and the State of Palestine, and also one of the earliest countries to establish diplomatic relations with the State of Palestine. For many years, both sides have supported each other on issues related to each other's core interests.

The second is to express opposition to the marginalization of the Palestinian issue internationally. The Palestinian issue remains a fundamental and fundamental issue for peace in the Middle East.

Thirdly, we look forward to China playing a greater role in promoting reconciliation within Pakistan and achieving peace in the Middle East region. In April this year, Chinese Foreign Minister Qin Gang held phone calls with the Foreign Ministers of Palestine and Israel, expressing China's support for the resumption of peace talks between the two sides as soon as possible based on the "two country plan" and willing to play an active role in this regard.

Photo by Xinhua News Agency reporter Huang Jingwen

At the talks on June 14, Xi Jinping stressed that the Palestinian issue has been delayed for more than half a century, bringing great suffering to the Palestinian people, and justice must be given to Palestine as soon as possible.

The fundamental solution to the Palestinian issue lies in establishing an independent Palestinian state based on the 1967 borders, with East Jerusalem as its capital and full sovereignty. Secondly, the economic and livelihood needs of Palestine should be guaranteed, and the international community should increase development assistance and humanitarian assistance to Palestine. Thirdly, we must adhere to the correct direction of peace talks. Respect the historical status quo of the Holy Land of Jerusalem, reject extremist and provocative words and actions, promote the convening of a larger scale, more authoritative and influential international peace conference, create conditions for the resumption of peace talks, and make practical efforts to help Palestine and Israel coexist peacefully.

The Pakistani side expressed confidence in China's wisdom and fair stance.

After the meeting, the two heads of state jointly signed on the first day of the 35th anniversary of the establishment of diplomatic relations between China and Pakistan, and witnessed the signing of multiple bilateral cooperation documents such as the Economic and Technological Cooperation Agreement.

In recent years, China and Pakistan have achieved remarkable results in economic and trade cooperation. "Abbas' visit to China this time definitely hopes to gain Chinese support for their livelihood projects and cooperation in the economic field," Ding Long said.

China and Pakistan have established a strategic partnership and look forward to more good news coming in the future.