Photo: Pedro Pardo/AFP
Eurasia
23/07/2024 22:35
Israel vehemently opposes any Hamas role in governing Gaza, and has suggested in the face of opposition even from Washington that it intends to maintain control of the enclave.
Israel was, therefore, quick to slam the announced deal.
Targeting Fatah chief and Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas for cooperating with Hamas, Minister of Foreign Affairs Israel Katz reasserted his government’s stance that no one but Israel will control Gaza following the end of hostilities.
China, which has sought to play a mediating role in the conflict, previously hosted Fatah and Hamas in April.
During those talks, the pair “expressed their political will to achieve reconciliation through dialogue and consultation” and made progress on “many specific issues”, Chinese Ministry of Foreign Affairs spokesman Lin Jian said at the time.
The latest round of talks featured Hamas’s political leader Ismail Haniyeh and Fatah’s deputy head Mahmoud al-Aloul.
Following the signing of what has been referred to as the “Beijing Declaration”, China’s Wang said: “Reconciliation is an internal matter for the Palestinian factions, but at the same time, it cannot be achieved without the support of the international community.”
China has historically been sympathetic to the Palestinian cause and supportive of a two-state solution to the Israel-Palestine conflict.
Chinese President Xi Jinping has called for an “international peace conference” to end the war.
