China will host a symposium of Israeli and Palestinian peace advocates this week, the foreign ministry announced as Beijing steps up its engagement in the Middle Eastern conflict that has seen a conflagration after US President Donald Trump earlier this month recognized Jerusalem as the Israeli capital.

Nabil Shaath, international relations advisor to Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas, and Yehiel Bar, deputy speaker of the Israeli Knesset, will lead their respective delegations at the symposium to be held in Beijing on December 21 and 22. Chinese Foreign Minister Wan Yi will meet the participants from both the countries while Assistant Foreign Minister Chen Xiaodong will deliver the keynote address at the symposium.

The symposium is being held “to contribute advice and wisdom for the settlement of the Palestinian issue,” China’s Foreign Ministry Spokesperson Lu Kang said at a press conference on Friday.

“The symposium this time aims to offer a platform for communication and interaction between the Palestinian and Israeli peace advocates under the current circumstance, express the hope for peace and continue to offer idea for promoting the Israeli-Palestinian peace process,” he said, adding that China had held two symposiums of Palestinian and Israeli peace advocates respectively in Beijing and Jerusalem in December of 2006 and 2003, “which have yielded good results.”

Chinese President Xi Jinping expressed Beijing’s willingness to increase its engagement in the decades-long dispute earlier this July when he offered a four-point peace proposal to Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas during the latter’s visit to China. “He (Xi) said China stands ready to join in and support all efforts that are conducive to the political settlement of the Palestinian issue,” Lu said.

“As a permanent member of the [United Nations] Security Council, China has been actively supporting the Middle East peace process and playing a constructive role to this end,” the Chinese foreign ministry spokesperson said, while adding that the forthcoming symposium is a step towards implementing Xi’s four-point proposal.

As a first step, Xi’s proposal calls for a two-state solution based on 1967 borders with East Jerusalem as the capital of the new Palestinian state.

The next step is to uphold “the concept of common, comprehensive, cooperative and sustainable security” by immediately putting a halt on Israeli settlement building and simultaneously taking measures to prevent violence against civilians while calling for an early resumption of peace talks.

The third step pushes for coordination of international efforts towards “peace-promoting measures that entail joint participation at an early date.”

And the final step is to promote peace through development and cooperation between the Palestinians and Israel.

The Chinese envoy to the UN Liu Jieyi later said that Beijing has also proposed launching a “China-Palestine-Israel tripartite dialogue mechanism in order to coordinate the implementation of major assistance programs in Palestine.”

The symposium this week is likely to be a part of the proposed tripartite dialogue mechanism.

In line with Xi’s efforts of stepping up China’s engagement in the Middle East and his four-point proposals, Beijing on Thursday called for the establishment of an independent Palestinian state based on the 1967 borders, with East Jerusalem as its capital, in response to US Trump’s Jerusalem decision.

“China understands the concern held by the Islamic countries over the status of Jerusalem. We support the settlement of this issue in accordance with relevant UN resolutions and international consensus," Lu told reporters on Thursday.

"We also support the establishment of an independent State of Palestine that enjoys full sovereignty, with East Jerusalem as its capital and based on the 1967 border,” Lu said, adding: “We hope that the negotiation between Palestine and Israel could be resumed at an early date so as to reach a comprehensive, fair and enduring solution to the Palestinian issue.”

China views both Israel and the Palestinians as important partners in its Belt and Road Initiative.