¡¡¡¡TUNIS, April 16 (Xinhuanet) -- China is deeply worried about the deterioration of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict in the Middle East, visiting Chinese President Jiang Zemin said here Tuesday evening at a banquet hosted by Tunisian President Zine Al-Abidine Ben Ali.

¡¡¡¡He noted that China condemned Israel's military strike and economic blockage against Palestine, as well as the siege of President Yasser Arafat.

¡¡¡¡Israel should immediately implement relevant resolutions of the U.N. Security Council, withdraw from the Palestinian areas, lift the siege of President Arafat and solve its conflicts with Palestine through negotiations, Jiang said.

¡¡¡¡He stated that China, as a permanent member of the Security Council, will, as always, support the Middle East peace process andjoin hands with Arab nations, including Tunisia, to continue to work to help ease the regional tension and promote an early settlement of the issue.

¡¡¡¡Jiang flew in Tunis earlier Tuesday from Abuja of Nigeria for his state visit as guest of Ben Ali.

¡¡¡¡Tunisia is the fourth leg of Jiang's two-week five-nation trip, which will finally take him to Iran on April 18. Jiang had just ended his state visit to Germany, Libya and Nigeria. Enditem

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