Hamas, Fatah holding talks in China

Hamas and Fatah are holding three days of talks in the Chinese capital Beijing to discuss intra-Palestinian reconciliation.

“China hosts a meeting that includes all Palestinian groups as part of the exerted efforts to end the internal division, and will be preceded by a meeting between Hamas and Fatah groups,” Abdel Fattah Dawla, a Fatah senior leader, said.

The meetings start on 20 July 20 and are due to end today.

“We in the Fatah Movement are open to solve and dismantle all obstacles in the way of reconciliation under the difficult conditions the Palestinian cause is going through along with the genocidal war on Gaza,” Dawla added.

For his part, Azzam Al-Ahmad, a member of Fatah’s Central Committee, stressed that his movement will participate in the Beijing meeting with openness aimed at ending the state of division.

The Hamas group is yet to comment on the meeting.

In Beijing, Foreign Ministry spokesman Lin Jian said last week that China has “consistently supported Palestinian factions in achieving reconciliation and unity through dialogue and consultation.”

In April, China’s Foreign Ministry spokesman Lin Jian said representatives of Fatah and Hamas held “consultations on advancing intra-Palestinian reconciliation and for in-depth and candid dialogue” in Beijing.

Before the Beijing talks in April, the groups also held talks in Moscow in February.

Similar rounds of talks took place in the past years in Turkiye, Algeria and Egypt, but all failed to bring a breakthrough in the Palestinian reconciliation file.

The Palestinian Territories of the West Bank and Gaza Strip have been politically divided since June 2007 due to sharp disagreements between the Fatah and Hamas movements.

Hamas won a majority in the legislative elections of 2006. Since then, it has governed the Gaza Strip, and Fatah has governed the West Bank.

READ: Hamas and Fatah both claim commitment to China’s mediation for reconciliation