China wants to make peace between Hamas and Fatah. Palestinian groups met in Beijing

China announced on Tuesday that representatives of Hamas and Fatah, two Palestinian groups that have been in conflict for many years, recently met in Beijing “to hold in-depth and sincere discussions” on the topic of “intra-Palestinian reconciliation”.

Hamas, a rival of Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas’ Fatah, seized power in 2007 in the Gaza Strip, where the Israeli military has been waging an offensive for more than six months following the Islamist group’s unprecedented October 7, 2023 attack on Israel.

“At China’s invitation, representatives of the Palestine National Liberation Movement (Fatah – nr) and the Islamic Resistance Movement (Hamas – nr) recently visited Beijing for in-depth and sincere discussions on promoting intra-Palestinian reconciliation,” Lin Jian said on Tuesday, spokesperson of the Chinese Ministry of Foreign Affairs, reported AFP and EFE on Tuesday, taken over by Agerpres.

“The two sides fully expressed their political will to achieve reconciliation through dialogue and consultation, discussed many specific issues and made progress”, he emphasized during a press conference.

China has been supporting the Palestinian cause for decades, AFP recalls.

Beijing has traditionally campaigned for a solution based on the two-state principle, in the context in which the Israeli-Palestinian peace process has been at a standstill since 2014.

Defined by the United States as a rival, China has in recent years strengthened its commercial and diplomatic relations with the Middle East, a large part of which is traditionally under American influence.

AFP recalls that Beijing supervised and facilitated last year’s spectacular diplomatic rapprochement between two major regional powers, Iran and Saudi Arabia.

China announced last week that it would host talks between the Islamist militant group Hamas and its rivals Fatah, a notable Chinese foray into Palestinian diplomacy amid the war in the Gaza Strip.

A Fatah official said a delegation, led by the group’s top official, Azzam Al-Ahmed, had left for China. A Hamas official said his team will be led by a senior Hamas official, Moussa Abu Marzouk, who will arrive on Friday.

“We support strengthening the authority of the Palestinian National Authority and support all Palestinian factions in achieving reconciliation and increasing solidarity through dialogue and consultation,” Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman Wang Wenbin said at the time, without confirming the meeting.

Publisher: MI

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