Palestinian Factions Sign Declaration To End Divisions After Talks In China

Various Palestinian factions have agreed to end their divisions and strengthen Palestinian unity by signing the Beijing Declaration on Tuesday morning in China, according to Chinese state media.

The declaration was signed at the closing ceremony of a reconciliation dialogue among the factions held in Beijing from July 21-23, state broadcaster CCTV said.

A total of 14 Palestinian factions including the leaders of rival groups Fatah and Hamas also met with the media, with China’s Foreign Minister Wang Yi present, CGTN said in a social media post.

Rival factions Hamas and Fatah met in China in April to discuss reconciliation efforts to end around 17 years of disputes.

China’s Foreign Minister Wang Yi hailed the agreement by 14 Palestinian factions to set up an “interim national reconciliation government” to govern Gaza after the war.

Palestinian factions including Hamas and Fatah met in Beijing this week in a renewed bid for reconciliation.

As the meeting wrapped up on Tuesday, China’s top diplomat said the groups had committed to “reconciliation.”

“The most prominent highlight is the agreement to form an interim national reconciliation government around the governance of post-war Gaza,” Wang said following the signing of the “Beijing declaration” by the factions in the Chinese capital.

“Reconciliation is an internal matter for the Palestinian factions, but at the same time, it cannot be achieved without the support of the international community,” Wang said.

China, he added, was keen to “play a constructive role in safeguarding peace and stability in the Middle East.”

Hamas and Fatah have been bitter rivals since Hamas fighters ejected Fatah from the Gaza Strip after deadly clashes that followed Hamas’s resounding victory in a 2006 election.

The Islamist Hamas movement has ruled Gaza since seizing control of it in 2007.

The secularist Fatah movement controls the Palestinian Authority, which has partial administrative control in the Israeli-occupied West Bank.