Beijing: China has hosted unity talks to resolve differences and facilitate reconciliation between the rival Palestinian factions Fatah and Hamas. The Ministry of Foreign Affairs in Beijing affirmed that representatives of each group were assembled at the gathering.
Fatah, which governs the West Bank, and Hamas, which rules the Gaza Strip, conflicted for years, but the contemporary Israeli war in Gaza increased curiosity in discovering a resolution to their differences and achieving Palestinian unity. The Foreign Ministry spokesperson, Lin Jian, did not pinpoint when the conference between the two parties took place, but they visited China for a thorough and genuine talk on the issue.
Lin Jian stated that, “The two sides fully expressed their political will to achieve reconciliation through dialogue and consultation, discussed many specific issues and made positive progress. China and Palestine share a traditional friendship. We support Palestinian factions in achieving reconciliation and increasing solidarity through dialogue and consultation. We will continue to work actively towards that end.”
Representatives from different political factions, including Hamas and Fatah, met in Moscow earlier this year to discuss the potential for assembling a harmonious Palestinian government. Hamas was the de facto sovereign in Gaza since 2007 when it succeeded in parliamentary elections and ousted President Abbas’s long-dominant party from the enclave due to its denial of receiving the election result.
For many years, two groups were in charge of the occupied Palestinian territory – the Gaza Strip and the West Bank. China always stood supportive of a two-state resolution to the Israel-Palestine row and showed sympathy towards the Palestinian cause. Since the beginning of the Israel-Gaza war in October, Beijing was calling for a rapid ceasefire. The war started after a Hamas offensive, which caused the demise of roughly 1,139 people, according to Israeli reports.
It is reported that during the offensive, Hamas and other armed groups seized around 250 captives, and several individuals are still being kept in Gaza. As a response, Israeli squads reportedly massacred over 34,535 people in the Gaza Strip, largely women and children, according to the Ministry of Health in the coastal enclave. The Chinese President, Xi Jinping, urged an ‘international peace conference’ to halt the combat.
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