Longstanding rivals Hamas and Fatah and a dozen other Palestinian factions have signed an agreement to reassert Palestinian control over Gaza once Israel’s war ends. The detailed framework for an “interim national reconciliation government” was brokered by China and signed on Tuesday in Beijing after three days of negotiations, said Chinese foreign minister Wang Yi.
Hamas’s spokesman Mousa Abu Marzouk said: “Today we sign an agreement for national unity and we say that the path to completing this journey is national unity.” Hamas’s team was headed by Qatar-based politburo head Ismail Haniyeh, while Fatah was represented by its deputy chief, Mahmoud al-Aloul.
Independent Palestinian National Initiative founder Mustafa Barghouti told Al-Jazeera the deal was more comprehensive than previous reconciliation efforts. “There is no other way now but for Palestinians to be unified and struggle together against this terrible injustice. The most important thing now is to not only sign the agreement, but to implement it,” he said. Egypt and Algeria, which attended the talks, are to oversee implementation.
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According to the text released by Beirut-based Al-Mayadeen television channel, the factions are to form a temporary national unity government that would exercise authority “over all Palestinian territory” occupied by Israel in 1967.
The signatories are to press for an end to “the brutal siege” of Gaza and the West Bank and delivery of “‘humanitarian and medical aid without restrictions”. The agreement asserted the Palestinian right to resist Israeli occupation and committed to the establishment of a Palestinian state with East Jerusalem at its capital.
Having mediated reconciliation between Saudi Arabia and Iran in 2023, China began talks between Hamas and Fatah, the dominant factions, in April. At that time, they “expressed their will to achieve reconciliation through dialogue and consultation [and achieved progress on] many specific issues”, said Chinese foreign ministry spokesman Lin Jian.
Hamas and Fatah, the dominant party in the Palestinian Authority, fell out after Hamas won the 2006 Palestinian legislative election and their rift intensified in 2007 when Hamas seized control of Gaza. Previous reconciliation efforts failed but popular pressure to unite has increased during the Gaza war and Israel’s West Bank crackdown.
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A poll released on June 12th by Ramallah’s Palestinian Centre for Policy and Research showed 51 per cent – up from 42 per cent in March – support for “immediate reconciliation and unification” of Hamas-ruled Gaza with Palestinian Authority-administered enclaves in the West Bank. The poll said Hamas was supported by 41 per cent of Palestinians and Fatah by 17 per cent, while 94 per cent wanted the resignation of western-backed, Fatah head and Palestinian president Mahmoud Abbas.
The signing of the Beijing deal coincided with Israeli prime minister Binyamin Netanyahu’s arrival in Washington and increasing pressure in the US and Israel for a Gaza ceasefire and hostage release.
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