Beijing says it brokered the deal during reconciliation talks between 14 Palestinian groups which began in the Chinese capital on Sunday.
ADVERTISEMENTPalestine’s conflicting political factions, Hamas and Fatah, have signed an agreement on “ending division and strengthening Palestinian unity”, according to Chinese state media.
At a press conference on Tuesday, Hamas delegation representative Mousa Abu Marzook said an agreement had been reached which would complete a “course of reconciliation”.
“We’re at a historic junction. Our people are rising up in their efforts to struggle,” he said, according to a translation provided by China’s Foreign Ministry.
China is not one of the traditional diplomatic brokers in the Israel-Palestine conflict, and has not been closely involved in efforts to end the current war in Gaza. The state media's reporting indicates it is trying to insert itself into the conflict resolution effort without fully joining the multilateral negotiations underway, which have yet to achieve a lasting ceasefire.
The Chinese story broke as US Secretary of State Antony Blinken said a ceasefire deal between Israel and Hamas, which will halt fighting and release Israeli hostages, is “inside the 10-yard line”.
The unclosable rift
Fatah, formally known as the Palestinian National Liberation Movement, is one of the two main Palestinian political parties in Palestine.
Fatah and Hamas have been rivals since Hamas violently routed forces loyal to Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas' Fatah in Gaza in 2007, taking over the impoverished coastal enclave. The Fatah-dominated Palestinian Authority, headed by Abbas, administers parts of the occupied West Bank.
It is widely viewed by the Palestinian public as corrupt, out of touch, and a subcontractor for Israel because of their joint security coordination.
Hamas and the Palestinian Authority have had multiple rounds of unity talks, but each time efforts have failed due to the factions’ own bitter rivalry over power and the West’s refusal to accept any government that includes Hamas unless it expressly recognises Israel.
In 2006, after Hamas won Palestinian legislative elections, it entered talks with Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas to try and form a unity government.
The two sides eventually reached a deal under which the unity government, including Hamas, would "respect" the Palestinian Authority’s 1993 peace agreements with Israel.
But Israel and the US refused to recognise the unity government and imposed economic sanctions. The government quickly collapsed amid fighting between Hamas and Abbas’ Fatah faction, ending with Hamas’ violent takeover of Gaza in 2007 in which Fatah was routed from the territory entirely.
A similar process occurred in the West Bank, with Fatah-supporting fighters driving out armed Hamas followers.
Fatah has since retained control of the Palestinian National Authority in the West Bank and also controls Palestinian refugee camps in the territory.