Hamas, Fatah sign declaration on plans to seek joint government; Israel slams Fatah
China upbeat on agreement made in Beijing, though previous efforts to end rift have failed; Israel’s Katz: ‘Instead of rejecting terrorism, Abbas embraces the murderers and rapists’
The Hamas terror group and the Palestinian Authority’s Fatah movement signed a declaration in Beijing on ending a years-long rift, Chinese state media said Tuesday, as the war in Gaza rages on.
Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi, who hosted senior Hamas official Moussa Abu Marzouk, Fatah envoy Mahmud al-Aloul and emissaries from 12 other Palestinian groups, said they had agreed to set up an “interim national reconciliation government” to govern postwar Gaza.
The declaration is the result of the latest in a series of talks meant to unite the sides. But previous declarations have failed, including a similar deal in 2011, casting doubt over whether the China-sponsored negotiations will actually lead to a resolution. It also comes as Israel and Hamas are weighing an internationally backed ceasefire proposal that would wind down the nine-month war and potentially free 120 Israeli hostages held by Hamas.
“Today we sign an agreement for national unity and we say that the path to completing this journey is national unity. We are committed to national unity and we call for it,” Abu Marzouk said after meeting Wang and the other envoys.
Israel lambasted Fatah for agreeing to reconciliation with the terror group.
“Instead of rejecting terrorism, Mahmoud Abbas embraces the murderers and rapists of Hamas, revealing his true face,” Foreign Minister Israel Katz wrote on X, referring to the PA president.
“In reality, this won’t happen because Hamas’s rule will be crushed, and Abbas will be watching Gaza from afar,” he wrote in English. “Israel’s security will remain solely in Israel’s hands.”
The declaration comes as negotiations continue between Israel and Hamas for a hostage-ceasefire deal to end the war in Gaza, which began on October 7 when thousands of Hamas-led terrorists invaded southern Israel from the Gaza Strip, killing some 1,200 people and taking 251 hostages.
It is believed that 120 hostages are currently held in Gaza, including the bodies of over 40 confirmed dead by the IDF. A framework endorsed by both sides would see Hamas release the remaining hostages in stages, in exchange for a permanent ceasefire and the release of hundreds of Palestinian security prisoners.
A previous Israel-Hamas deal in November saw 105 civilian hostages released in exchange for hundreds of Palestinian security prisoners, during a weeklong truce.
Since October 7, Hamas officials have said that the group does not want to return to ruling Gaza as it did before the conflict, and have called for the formation of a government of technocrats to be agreed upon by the various Palestinian factions, which would prepare the way for elections in both Gaza and the West Bank with the intention of forming a unified government.
The agreement underscored China’s growing role in Middle East diplomacy, after success in the restoration of relations between Saudi Arabia and Iran.
Also present at Tuesday’s meeting were envoys from Egypt, Algeria and Russia, according to Wang.
A joint statement issued after the most recent talks in Beijing gave no details on how or when a new Palestinian government might be formed, saying only that it would be done “by agreement among the factions.”
According to the joint statement, the two groups are committed to the creation of a Palestinian state in the West Bank and Gaza, which Israel captured from Jordan and Egypt, respectively, in 1967, during the Six Day War.
Fatah and Hamas have been rivals since Hamas violently routed forces loyal to Abbas’s Fatah in Gaza in 2007, taking over the coastal enclave.
The deadly internal fighting happened after Hamas won a Palestinian legislative election in 2006, following Israel’s unilateral withdrawal from Gaza the previous year.
The Fatah-dominated Palestinian Authority, headed by Abbas, administers parts of the West Bank. It is widely viewed by the Palestinian public as corrupt and out of touch, and many resent its security coordination with Israel.
Repeated attempts at mending the rift between Fatah and Hamas have failed, wrecked by the factions’ bitter rivalry over power.
US President Joe Biden’s administration envisions a revamped Palestinian Authority to rule postwar Gaza and has sought a series of reforms that might make it a viable presence in the war-ravaged territory. Israel has rejected that idea, but has not put forward a credible alternative for who will govern Gaza.
Palestinian Islamic Jihad, a smaller terror group allied with Hamas, issued a statement Tuesday after the talks saying that it still “rejects any formula that includes recognition of Israel explicitly or implicitly” and that it had “demanded the withdrawal of the Palestine Liberation Organization’s recognition of Israel.”
