Ministry of Foreign Affairs chimes in on crisis in Israel

The Ministry of Foreign Affairs issued its first substantive statement on the recent spike in Middle East violence yesterday, urging both sides in the Israeli-Palestinian conflict to quickly reach a ceasefire.

"We urge Israel and the Palestinians to face the problem rationally and to heed how the bloody conflict has brought damage to civilians on both sides and to regional stability in general," the ministry said in a statement.

"Both sides should replace military confrontation with peaceful negotiation in settling their disputes," the statement said.

Aside from issuing a travel advisory, it was the first time the foreign ministry expressed its concern over recent violence that erupted after Palestinian suicide bombers prompted an Israeli military sweep into Palestinian-controlled areas of the West Bank on March 29.

While urging Palestinians to drop violent attacks against Israel, the statement also urged Israel to withdraw from Palestinian-controlled areas and to respect Palestinian aspirations for establishing an independent state.

The statement also said that Taiwan urged both sides to follow relevant UN resolutions and consider the peace plans proposed by the international community in seeking a permanent peace.

With regard to the spike in oil prices prompted by Iraq's decision to turn off its oil spigots for thirty days, the ministry predicted that the present Israeli-Palestinian crisis would not go so far as to threaten oil supplies and in the process trigger oil price hikes culminating in a more comprehensive oil crisis," the ministry said.

"This is because many Muslim countries declined to confront the US, nor are they willing to suffer a drop in income due to a reduction in oil exports," the press release stated.

Iraqi President Saddam Hussein ordered the 30-day halt in oil sales to protest Israel's occupation of the Palestinian territories.

Iran last week also called on Middle East countries to halt oil supplies to Israel's supporters in a bid to force Western countries to pressure Israel into withdrawing from Palestinian cities.

The oil market had its own concerns.

Amid worries that Middle East oil supplies might be disrupted, Taiwan's state-run Chinese Petroleum Corp (中油) announced on Tuesday a decision to raise domestic gasoline and diesel fuel prices by an average of 5.19 percent and domestic fuel oil prices by an average of 3.11 percent, effective yesterday.

The foreign ministry re-iterated travel warnings to Taiwanese nationals, advising them not to travel to Israel or the West Bank.