BEIJING: Several Palestinian factions in China agreed on Tuesday morning to end their divisions and strengthen Palestinian unity by signing the Beijing Declaration, Chinese state media reported.
The declaration was signed during the closing ceremony of the inter-factional reconciliation dialogue held in Beijing from July 21 to 23, state broadcaster CCTV reported.
A total of 14 Palestinian factions, including leaders of rival groups Fatah and Hamas, met with the media, in the presence of Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi, CGTN said in a social media post.
Rival factions Hamas and Fatah met in China in April to discuss reconciliation efforts aimed at ending some 17 years of disputes.
Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi welcomed the agreement reached by 14 Palestinian factions to establish an “interim national reconciliation government” to govern Gaza after the war.
Palestinian factions, including Hamas and Fatah, met in Beijing this week to renew their efforts at reconciliation.
At the end of the meeting on Tuesday, China's top diplomat said the groups were committed to achieving “reconciliation.”
“The most important moment is the agreement to form an interim national reconciliation government around the governance of post-war Gaza,” Wang said after the factions signed the “Beijing Declaration” in the Chinese capital.
“Reconciliation is an internal issue for the Palestinian factions, but at the same time it cannot be achieved without the support of the international community,” Wang said.
China, he added, was eager to “play a constructive role in safeguarding peace and stability in the Middle East.”
Hamas and Fatah have been bitter rivals since Hamas fighters drove Fatah from the Gaza Strip following bloody clashes following Hamas's landslide victory in 2006 elections.
The Islamist movement Hamas has ruled Gaza since it took control in 2007.
The secular Fatah movement controls the Palestinian Authority, which has partial administrative control over the Israeli-occupied West Bank.
