On the afternoon of March 13, Vice Foreign Minster Yang Wenchang met with the envoys from the 22 nations of the League of Arab States (LAS) on the current tension in the Middle East.During the meeting, Yang reaffirmed China's stance on the Middle East issue, and said that China is anxious and deeply concerned about Israel's recent military action against Palestine, which has caused great casualties and property loss on the Palestinian side. China condemns Israel's military attacks, its economic blockade of Palestine, and abhors its act of limiting the freedom of movement of Palestinian President Yasser Arafat and of destroying his official residence in Gaza and Nablus. China holds that Israel's action is of no help to settling the current problems, and will only lead to the deterioration of the situation. The Chinese government is calling upon the Israeli government to cooperate with the international community by promoting peace, stopping its military action and negotiating with Palestine to solve the disputes peacefully. The Chinese government and people will support, as always, the just cause of the Palestinians to restore their legitimate rights.