BEIJING: China on Tuesday expressed willingness to facilitate “reconciliation” between rival Palestinian factions after Fatah said its officials would meet in Beijing this month with Hamas counterparts.

Fatah’s central committee deputy secretary general Sabri Saidam said on Monday that the factions would meet with Chinese officials in Beijing on July 20 and 21.

The Hamas delegation is to be headed by its Qatar-based political chief Ismail Haniyeh, while the Fatah representation will be led by deputy head Mahmud Alul, Fatah sources said.

Asked about the comments on Tuesday, Beijing said it would “publish information at an appropriate time”.

Palestinian groups to meet in Beijing this week

“China has always supported all sides in Palestine to achieve reconciliation and unity through dialogue and negotiation,” Foreign Ministry Spokesman Lin Jian said.

Beijing, he said, “is willing to develop dialogue and reconciliation, provide a platform and create opportunities for all sides on the Palestine issue”.

“China is willing to strengthen communication with all parties and work hard to realise the aim of Palestine’s domestic reconciliation,” he added.

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

After seizing control of Gaza in 2007, Hamas has ruled the territory ever since.

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

Several reconciliation bids have failed, but calls have grown since the Hamas October 7 attacks on Israel set off the Gaza war, with violence also soaring in the West Bank where Fatah is based.

China hosted Fatah and Hamas in April but a meeting scheduled for June was postponed.

China has positioned itself as a more neutral actor on the Israel-Palestinian conflict than its rival the United States, advocating for a two-state solution while also maintaining good ties with Israel.

Published in Dawn, July 17th, 2024