Several Palestinian factions, including Hamas and rival Fatah, signed a “national unity” agreement in Beijing on Tuesday, with the purpose of ending their divisions and creating a platform that they can jointly rule post-war Gaza.
“Today we signed an agreement for national unity and we say that the path to completing this journey is national unity,” senior Hamas official Musa Abu Marzouk told reporters, according to Chinese state media.
“We are committed to national unity and we call for it.”
The signing concluded three days of reconciliation dialogue between 14 Palestinian groups in the Chinese capital.
Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi described the deal as an agreement to rule the Gaza Strip together once the ongoing war ends.
“The most prominent highlight is the agreement to form an interim national reconciliation government around the governance of post-war Gaza,” he said.
“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.”
While several reconciliation bids between rival Palestinian groups have failed in the past, calls for renewed efforts have grown since the start of the war. Hamas and Fatah had previously met in China in April to discuss reconciliation efforts to put an end to 17 years of dispute.
The Fatah-led Palestinian Authority partially administers the occupied West Bank, while Hamas had been the de facto ruling power in Gaza prior to the current war.
The two forces have engaged in political rivalry for decades. After Hamas won the legislative elections in 2006, Fatah members clashed violently with the group, resulting in Hamas’s total control over the Gaza Strip.
In May, a senior Palestinian source with knowledge of Hamas policies, told MEE that Hamas was prepared to show “flexibility” about the future governance of Gaza, as long as the decision to rule the war-battered enclave is agreed upon by other Palestinian factions and is not imposed by either the US or Israel.