Palestinian factions agree to form unity government

Leaders of Hamas, Fatah and other Palestinian factions have agreed, after three days of talks in Beijing, to form a national unity government at an unspecified point in the future, the Guardian newspaper reports.

This move, experts say, bolsters China’s status as a global mediator, particularly in the Middle East.

The “Beijing Declaration”, signed by 14 Palestinian factions, also represents a significant step forward in negotiations between the groups, although it didn’t detail how to actually achieve Palestinian unification.

In a speech on Tuesday, China’s foreign minister, Wang Yi, said the declaration represented an “important historical moment in the cause of Palestinian liberation.”

Analysts from the West also said the agreement would prove hard to implement, with complications including the deep enmity between Palestinian factions and Western opposition to Hamas having any role in governance.

No timetable was declared for implementation, according to Reuters News Agency.

The agreement states that the factions should work together on uniting Palestinian institutions in the West Bank and Gaza, and prepare for national elections.

“It is hard to imagine that elections could be held in Gaza anytime soon given the state of the humanitarian crisis there,” Raphael Angieri, an independent foreign policy analyst told the Guardian, adding that the agreement was “significant” nonetheless.

China has repeatedly called for a ceasefire in Gaza.

The coastal strip of land has been under siege since Hamas launched an attack on Israel on 7 October, killing nearly 1,200 people and taking more than 200 hostages.

Nearly 40,000 people have been killed in Gaza as a result of the Israeli offensive, with little sign of a peace settlement in sight.

The idea of Hamas being involved in any kind of postwar governance in Gaza is not a consideration in Israel and the US.

On Tuesday, Israel’s foreign minister, Israel Katz, reacted angrily to the inclusion of Hamas in the Beijing declaration. In a post on X, Mr Katz said the agreement for joint control of Gaza after the war “won’t happen because Hamas’s rule will be crushed.”

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In recent years, China has sought to portray itself as a global mediator, particularly in the Middle East, where it is seen as having less historical baggage than the US.

Last year, Beijing brokered a detente between Saudi Arabia and Iran, leading to concerns in Washington about the US’s waning influence in the region.

China’s “mediation involvement here is less to do with the crisis itself and more to do with Beijing’s effort to present itself as an alternative global leader to the US,” an analyst told the Guardian.