UNITED NATIONS - A Chinese envoy on Tuesday urged the international community to safeguard the legitimate rights and interests of the Palestinian people, while upholding the two-state solution to the Palestinian-Israeli issue.

"Safeguarding the legitimate rights and interests of the Palestinian people is the common responsibility of the international community," Zhang Jun, China's permanent representative to the United Nations, told the Security Council meeting on the situation in the Middle East.

"The international community should uphold multilateralism, promote dialogue and negotiation, and peacefully resolve the Palestinian issue through political consultation," he said.

"Violence or threat of force will not help solve the problem. All the relevant parties should move towards each other, actively promote internal reconciliation in Palestine, immediately stop inflammatory words and actions and mutual accusations, avoid unilateral measures that undermine trust so as to create favorable conditions for resuming dialogue," said the envoy.

Zhang said that efforts should be made to promote a comprehensive, just and lasting solution to the Palestinian issue based on existing international consensus.

"The two-state solution is the only correct way to solve the Palestinian-Israeli issue. The relevant UN resolutions, the principle of land-for-peace, and the Arab Peace Initiative are fundamental principles to be followed in this regard," said the ambassador.

"The international community should proceed on this basis to promote the early resumption of peace talks between the two sides with a view to establishing a fully sovereign Palestinian state based on the 1967 borders with East Jerusalem as its capital."

"We should pay close attention to and improve the Palestinian economic and humanitarian conditions," he said. "Relevant party should lift the blockade on the Gaza Strip as soon as possible, fulfill its obligations under relevant international treaties, such as the Paris Protocol, and fully implement relevant UN resolutions."

Zhang said that China appreciates the "vigorous efforts" of the UN Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees in the Near East (UNRWA) in improving the humanitarian conditions of the Palestinian refugees, safeguarding their rights, easing the pressure of the host countries, vigorously promoting regional peace and stability, and preventing the spread of terrorism and extreme ideology in refugee camps.

"The international community should continue to lend firm support to UNRWA and contribute to improving the humanitarian conditions of Palestinian refugees," said the envoy.

China is assisting Palestine "to the best of its ability" in the field of development, he added.