China welcomes Hamas and Fatah to Beijing to negotiate reconciliation and Palestinian unity

Sputnik – On Friday (26), officials from the two groups and a diplomat said that China will host negotiations for Palestinian unity between the militant group Hamas and Fatah.

A Fatah official told Reuters that a delegation, led by senior official Azzam Al-Ahmed, had left for China. A Hamas official said its negotiating team, led by Moussa Abu Marzouk, would fly there later yesterday (26).

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“We support strengthening the authority of the Palestinian National Authority and support all Palestinian factions to achieve reconciliation and enhance solidarity through dialogue and consultation,” Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesperson Wang Wenbin said in a regular informational meeting on Friday (26). However, Wang did not confirm the meeting, the media highlights.

This is the first time that a Hamas delegation will be publicly known to have gone to China since the start of the war in the Palestinian enclave. Chinese diplomat Wang Kejian met Hamas chief Ismail Haniyeh in Qatar last month, according to the Chinese foreign ministry.

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The two rival groups have failed to resolve their political disputes since Hamas fighters ousted Fatah from Gaza in a short conflict in 2007.

Unlike the United States, which is cautious about initiatives to reconcile the two, as it supports the Palestinian Authority but banned Hamas as terrorist, the Chinese movement demonstrates a notable incursion by China into Palestinian diplomacy, analyzes the British agency.

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Chinese officials have stepped up their defense of the Palestinians in international forums in recent months, calling for a larger-scale Israeli-Palestinian peace conference and a specific timetable for implementing a two-state solution.

In February, Beijing urged the International Court of Justice (ICC) to give its opinion on the Israeli occupation of Palestinian territories, which it considered illegal.

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More recently, China has pushed for Palestine to join the United Nations, efforts supported and worked on by Russia and Brazil, which Beijing’s top diplomat, Wang Yi, said last week would “rectify a prolonged historical injustice”, as reported.