Officials from Hamas and Fatah, the main Palestinian factions that have long vieed for power in Gaza and the West Bank, recently met in Beijing, and Chinese officials said on Tuesday that they had “in-depth and frank discussions on promoting intra-Palestinian reconciliation.” ” was held.
The discussions in Beijing were not expected to yield much. Israel’s air strikes on Gaza have deepened support for Hamas in the Israeli-occupied West Bank, where the Fatah-dominated Palestinian Authority has ruled cities and towns for decades. U.S. officials have suggested the Palestinian Authority could help govern the Gaza Strip after the war, but that would likely require Hamas’ approval.
And such power sharing would require more compromises than currently seem possible. Fatah and Hamas met in Russia at the end of February, but there was no clear progress towards a unity government. Fatah, in particular, has called for the dismantling of Hamas’s armed wing, a move the militant group has repeatedly rejected in the past.
But for China, the meeting likely served a larger purpose: to present China as a great power and peacemaker that rivals the United States.
Beijing has helped restore diplomatic relations between Iran and Saudi Arabia and has set out a set of principles to end the conflict in Ukraine, but Ukraine and its Western allies say these principles lack credibility. Analysts say declaring solidarity with the Palestinian cause further strengthens the claim China wants to make against small countries around the world that feel alienated from the West.
“The thread linking these efforts to China’s broader foreign policy is China’s claim that it can represent the developing world, or what it prefers to call the ‘Global South,'” said Lowy Institute Senior East Asia Fellow. Richard McGregor says. In Sydney.
“Such a gesture is largely a gesture at this point,” he added, adding that “this gesture is in line with China’s current priorities of learning the habits of great powers that have the weight and skill to bring belligerents to the negotiating table.” It matches,” he added.
Palestinian officials said officials who attended the rally in the Chinese capital included Musa Abu Marzouk, head of Hamas’s political wing, and Azzam al-Ahmad, a member of Fatah’s central committee.
Chinese Foreign Ministry Spokesperson Lin Jian said in a press conference on Tuesday that representatives of Hamas and Fatah “recently” met in Beijing and agreed to continue dialogue. He did not say when the meeting took place.
Fatah and Hamas have a troubled history. When Israel withdrew all its troops and civilians from Gaza in 2005, it transferred power over Gaza to the Palestinian Authority. However, Fatah lost to Hamas in parliamentary elections the following year. In 2007, Hamas seized power in Gaza in a short and brutal civil war that divided the Palestinians not only territorially but politically.
Joy Don contributed to research.
