World

Correction Appended: May 30, 2013

Why China Can’t Solve the Israel-Palestine Conflict

Having emerged as an economic colossus and military power, the People’s Republic of China achieves what other global heavyweights could not: a resolution to the Israel-Palestine conflict. It’s an enticing narrative. But could the four-point peace plan that Chinese President Xi Jinping pitched on May 7 to Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas–who left Beijing just before Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu arrived–actually work?

“I can give you a one-word answer: no,” says Gerald Steinberg, professor of political studies at Bar Ilan University in Israel. The reality, for now, is that no country except the U.S. is trusted enough by both sides to broker peace talks–especially those by Israel, which sees itself as persecuted and misunderstood by the world but gives the U.S. points for trying. The Chinese did not even have diplomatic relations with Israel until 1992. And those came mainly so that China could join the other world powers at the Madrid Conference, the first great diplomatic effort to settle the Israel-Palestine conflict.

Now, as then, China is looking out for China. “They want to be global actors,” says Steinberg, who adds that to do that, “you have something to offer.” But the plan Xi proposed in Beijing merely repeated in broad terms what has been discussed for decades: two states, based on 1967 boundaries, achieved through negotiations.

There’s never been a shortage of third parties eager to mediate the world’s premier conflict. Turkey routinely offers its services, and when Abbas was trying to win full U.N. membership for Palestine in 2011, Colombian President Juan Manuel Santos was invited to arbitrate–mainly because, at that moment, Bogotá seemed to have the deciding Security Council vote.

“China is not Colombia, of course,” says Yitzhak Shichor, a specialist in Asian studies at Hebrew University. But neither is it the U.K. or even Russia. “It’s going to take time for China really to offer something that will be acceptable to all sides,” he adds. And that, as the U.S. has learned from decades of trying, takes more than economic or military clout.

Vick is TIME’s Jerusalem bureau chief. Read more about China and the Israel-Palestine conflict at world.time.com

Timeline

When Countries Bury Terrorists

No town wants to enshrine an assassin. But upon death, their bodies have to go somewhere–an issue that has raged over Tamerlan Tsarnaev, the Boston bombing suspect who was killed April 19. Here’s how similar situations played out.

John Wilkes Booth

Died April 26, 1865

The body of Abraham Lincoln’s shooter was tossed in a warehouse; four years later, it was given to the family for a secret burial.

Gavrilo Princip

Died April 28, 1918

The assassin of Austria’s Archduke Franz Ferdinand was buried in an unmarked grave; his body was later exhumed and transferred to a cemetery in Sarajevo.

Jan-Carl Raspe and Gudrun Ensslin

Died Oct. 18, 1977

Despite protests, the German left-wing militants were buried in a public cemetery in Stuttgart.

“All enmity should cease after death,” the local mayor reasoned.

Timothy McVeigh

Died June 11, 2001

The Oklahoma City bomber was executed at an Indiana prison; shortly thereafter, his body was cremated and his lawyer scattered the ashes at an undisclosed location.

Osama Bin Laden

Died May 2, 2011

Hours after he was killed in Abbottabad, Pakistan, his body was taken to the U.S.S. Carl Vinson, where it was prepped in accordance with Islam and tipped into the sea.

POLL

Should we arm Syria?

Pew asked 11,771 people from different countries if they’d back a government decision to send military supplies to the Syrian opposition. Here’s how many said yes.

FRANCE 31%

U.K. 30%

U.S. 25%

TURKEY 25%

Three Biggest Challenges Facing

Pakistan’s New Prime Minister

By May 11, Pakistanis will have elected a new government helmed either by Imran Khan (the cricketer turned anticorruption activist, above left) or Nawaz Sharif (the pro-business conservative). Here’s what the winner is up against.

1. Keeping the lights on Pakistan’s electricity service has been spotty for years, causing 18-hour blackouts in some cities. Government funds must be reallocated to generate more power more efficiently.

2. placating militants The new leadership is expected to broker a peace deal with the Pakistani Taliban to avoid attacks, but such efforts haven’t worked in the past.

3. ousting drones Pakistan, which allows U.S. drones to attack from its airspace, wants to end its cooperation with the CIA. But it still needs U.S. aid to sustain its economy.

Peace at Last

RUSSIA

An Orthodox priest blesses the cloth-draped coffins of Soviet troops who perished in the Sinyavino Offensive during World War II as part of a reburial ceremony outside St. Petersburg on May 7. The remains of 417 soldiers were discovered by a memorial research group as Russia celebrated the 68th anniversary of its victory over Nazi Germany.

MONGOLIA

70,000,000

Age in years of a tyrannosaurus skeleton that was repatriated from the U.S. to Mongolia on May 6, after officials determined that it had been smuggled from the Gobi Desert

EGYPT

‘Bikinis are welcome in Egypt, and booze is still being served.’

HISHAM ZAAZOU, Tourism Minister, on the government’s plans to boost visitor numbers–a pillar of the economy that has fallen hard during more than two years of revolution and instability

Trending In

SPORTS

Private schools in Saudi Arabia will now allow female students to play sports, since Shari’a law permits it

SCIENCE

Researchers in the U.S. debuted the world’s smallest flying robot; the penny-size “robo-fly” weighs just a fraction of a gram

TECH

Israel accused Google of impeding the Middle East peace process by putting Palestine on its home page for the Palestinian territories

FOOD

Sixty-three traders in China were arrested for allegedly dyeing mink, fox and rat meat to sell as lamb in Shanghai

The original version of this article misidentified the subject of a photograph as the West German left-wing militant Andreas Baader. The photo is of Jan-Carl Raspe, one of Baader’s associates in the group the Red Army Faction.