Palestinian factions, including rivals Hamas and Fatah, signed in Beijing on Tuesday an agreement to end a yearslong rift and form an interim national unity government for the Palestinian territories.
The “Beijing Declaration on Ending Division and Strengthening Palestinian National Unity” was signed during the closing ceremony of a two-day round of reconciliation talks attended by senior Hamas official Mousa Abu Marzouk, Fatah envoy Mahmoud al-Aloul and representatives of 12 other Palestinian factions, including the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine, Democratic Front for the Liberation of Palestine, Palestinian People’s Party, Palestinian Popular Struggle Front and Palestinian National Initiative.
Diplomatic envoys to China or their representatives from Egypt, Algeria, Saudi Arabia, Qatar, Jordan, Syria, Lebanon, Russia and Turkey also took part in the dialogue, according to a Chinese Foreign Ministry statement.
Speaking at the ceremony on Tuesday, China’s Foreign Minister Wang Yi said the most important outcome of the talks is that attendees agreed “to achieve the reconciliation and unity among the 14 factions” and to affirm that the PLO is “the sole legitimate representative of all Palestinian people.”
“The biggest highlight is the agreement on establishing an interim government of national reconciliation focusing on the post-conflict reconstruction of the Gaza Strip, and the strongest call is for truly establishing an independent State of Palestine in accordance with relevant UN resolutions,” he added.
The Palestinian factions welcomed the declaration and praised China’s efforts to achieve Palestinian reconciliation.
“Today we sign an agreement for national unity and we say that the path to completing this journey is national unity. We are committed to national unity and we call for it,” Abu Marzouk said during the closing ceremony.
In a statement published on Hamas’ website, Husam Badran, member of the group’s political bureau and head of its national relations office, hailed the declaration as “an additional positive step” to achieve Palestinian unity.
For his part, member of the Islamic Jihad’s political bureau Ihsan Ataya said in a statement that the importance of the Beijing Declaration lies in unifying the Palestinian position in the face of the ongoing Israeli war.
Details of the agreement
According to the Beijing Declaration, the factions agreed to achieve “a comprehensive Palestinian national unity that includes all Palestinian factions under the PLO framework, and to commit to the establishment of an independent Palestinian state with Jerusalem as its capital … with the help of Egypt, Algeria, China and Russia.”
The declaration also stressed the Palestinian people’s right to resist the Israeli occupation in accordance with international laws and the United Nations charter and to thwart any attempts to displace Palestinians from their land.
“A Palestinian national unity government will be temporarily formed with the consensus of all Palestinian factions and by a decision from the president,” the declaration continued. Said government will exercise its powers over all Palestinian territories, including the Gaza Strip and the West Bank, unify all Palestinian institutions and begin the reconstruction process, as well as prepare for holding general elections.
The factions in Beijing also agreed to deploy all efforts to lift the Israeli blockade on Gaza and ensure the unimpeded delivery of humanitarian aid into the enclave.
The Beijing Declaration comes as the Israeli war in the Gaza Strip approaches its tenth month. Nearly 39,000 people, mostly women and children, have been killed in Gaza and about 1.9 million others displaced since Israel launched its air and ground campaign in response to Hamas’ cross-border assault Oct. 7. During their unprecedented attack, Hamas militants killed nearly 1,200 people and took over 240 others hostage.
Efforts to achieve Palestinian reconciliation have intensified since the war broke out in October, amid increasing talks on who will govern Gaza after the end of the conflict.
Axios reported on Tuesday that the United States, Israel and the United Arab Emirates held talks in Abu Dhabi last Thursday on plans for post-war Gaza.
Axios cited two Israeli officials as saying that Emirati Foreign Minister Abdullah bin Zayed Al Nahyan hosted the meeting with President Joe Biden’s top Middle East adviser Brett McGurk and State Department counselor Tom Sullivan, as well Israel’s Minister for Strategic Affairs Ron Dermer.
The UAE has reportedly expressed its readiness to be part of a multinational force that would administer the Gaza Strip after the war.
Israel, meanwhile, has repeatedly rejected any idea that Hamas remains in control of Gaza when the war ends.
Israeli Foreign Minister Israel Katz slammed the Beijing Declaration on Tuesday.
“Instead of rejecting terrorism, Mahmoud Abbas embraces the murderers and rapists of Hamas, revealing his true face,” Katz wrote on the X platform. “In reality, this won’t happen because Hamas’ rule will be crushed, and Abbas will be watching Gaza from afar.”
China’s diplomatic role in region
The Beijing Declaration marks another major diplomatic achievement for China, which has been increasingly involved in the region since it successfully brokered the March 2023 agreement between Saudi Arabia and Iran on the resumption of their diplomatic ties.
Since the onset of the Gaza war, Beijing has been deploying diplomatic efforts to achieve Palestinian reconciliation and end the war. It repeatedly called for a cease-fire in the Strip and expressed support for the establishment of an independent Palestinian state based on a two-state solution.
In April, it hosted representatives of the Hamas and Fatah factions for reconciliation talks.
Earlier in March, Chinese diplomat Wang Kejian and head of Hamas’ political bureau Ismail Haniyeh met in Qatar where they discussed the Gaza conflict.
Hamas took over the Gaza Strip in 2007 after ousting the Fatah-affiliated government in heavy clashes between the military wings of the two parties. The takeover left the Palestinian territories divided into two entities: a Hamas-run government in Gaza and the Palestinian Authority running the West Bank. Since then, all mediation attempts by regional actors, mainly Egypt, have failed to end the Palestinian division.
