Hamas said to bolt bilateral talks with Fatah in China

Hamas refuses a bilateral meeting with representatives from the rival Palestinian faction Fatah in the Chinese capital Beijing, Palestinian media reports.

Officials announced last week that senior officials from the Hamas terror group would sit down with Fatah, which runs the Ramallah-based Palestinian Authority, during the course of the current week, in a renewed bid for reconciliation after multiple failed attempts.

The Hamas delegation was supposed to be headed by its Qatar-based political chief Ismail Haniyeh, while the Fatah delegation was to be led by deputy head Mahmud Alul, according to Fatah sources.

The Palestinian News Network (PNN) reports that Haniyeh has been replaced at the last minute by senior official Musa Abu Marzouq and that the Hamas delegation also includes politburo members Fathi Hammad, who lives in Turkey, and Beirut-based Ali Barakeh.

Hamas, however, refused to participate in the bilateral with Fatah yesterday, PNN reports. It is not clear if the meeting of all Palestinian factions that was scheduled to take place today will go ahead as planned.

Hamas has no immediate comment.

The two groups have been bitter rivals since Hamas fighters ejected Fatah from the Gaza Strip after deadly clashes that followed Hamas’s resounding victory in a 2006 election.

Several previous reconciliation bids between Hamas and Fatah have failed, but calls have grown since October 7, with violence also soaring in the West Bank where Fatah is based. China hosted Fatah and Hamas in April but a meeting scheduled for June was postponed.