BEIJING: Various Palestinian factions agreed to end their divisions and strengthen Palestinian unity by signing the Beijing Declaration in China on Tuesday morning, according to Chinese state media.
The declaration was signed at the closing ceremony of the reconciliation dialogue between the factions held in Beijing from July 21 to 23, state broadcaster CCTV reported.
A total of 14 Palestinian factions, including the leaders of rival groups Fatah and Hamas, also 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 roughly 17 years of strife.
Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi welcomed an agreement by 14 Palestinian factions to form an “interim government of national reconciliation” to govern Gaza after the war.
Palestinian factions including Hamas and Fatah met in Beijing this week in a renewed push for reconciliation.
As the meeting ended on Tuesday, China's top diplomat said the groups had committed to “reconciliation”.
“The most significant highlight is the agreement to form an interim government of national reconciliation around the administration of post-war Gaza,” Wang said after the signing of the “Beijing Declaration” by factions in the Chinese capital.
“Reconciliation is an internal matter of the Palestinian factions, but at the same time, it cannot be achieved without the support of the international community,” Wang said.
He added that China would like to “play a constructive role in ensuring peace and stability in the Middle East.”
Hamas and Fatah have been bitter rivals since Hamas fighters drove Fatah out of the Gaza Strip following deadly clashes that followed Hamas's landslide election victory in 2006.
The Islamist movement Hamas has ruled Gaza since it took control in 2007.
The secularist Fatah movement controls the Palestinian Authority, which has partial administrative control in the Israeli-occupied West Bank.
