The Israeli withdrawal from the Gaza Strip is an important step, but also "the first step" in the Mideast peace process, said China's special envoy on the Middle East issues Wang Shijie in Beijing on Wednesday.

Wang said at a briefing on his trip to the Middle East that China considered the Israeli withdrawal from the Gaza Strip an "important and positive step".

However, he said, "There's still a long way to go in achieving the resumption of Palestine-Israel peace talks and to promote Mideast peace."

Wang visited the five Mideast countries of Palestine, Israel, Jordan, Egypt and Morocco from Sept. 14 to Sept. 22.

"Only upon a Palestinian take-over of passages, airports and ports in Gaza and recovery of the Palestinian economy, can violence be expected to gradually vanish," Wang said. "If there's no follow-up activities from Israel, peace in the Mideast will be hard to achieve."

Wang said China will continue its efforts in pushing forward the "road map" peace plan with the Israeli withdrawal from the Gaza Strip as the first step.

"I myself believe firmly both the Palestinian and Israeli people resent 'returning violence with violence' and they are longing for peace," he said.

Source: Xinhua