At the end of three days of talks with Hamas, Fatah and 12 other groups, Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi announced today the agreement for an “interim government of national unity” for the post-war period in Gaza. But there is no trace of this aspect in the report of the official Ramallah news agency. Meanwhile, the United States, Israel and the United Arab Emirates are again talking about an international mission with a role for Abu Dhabi in the Strip.
Milan () – Fourteen Palestinian factions have united in an agreement “blessed” by the Minister of Foreign Affairs of the People’s Republic of China, Wang Yi. At the conclusion of three days of talks in Beijing, accompanied by the customary photo opportunity, it was announced this morning that Hamas, Fatah and the other political groups had reached an agreement on the future of Palestine with Chinese mediation.
The conditional is obligatory, given the many similar precedents that have remained dead letters. Heading the Hamas delegation in Beijing was Musa Abu Marzuk, one of the movement’s historical leaders, while Fatah was represented by senior Fatah leader Mahmud al-Aloul. Representatives of the governments of Egypt (historic mediator in Gaza), Algeria (which has played a prominent role in the resolutions dedicated to the conflict in the UN Security Council in recent months) and Russia also attended the table.
According to Beijing, the document would include an agreement for the formation of an “interim government of national reconciliation” that would also have authority over Gaza once the war is over. The result responds to China’s ambitions to play a key role in the future balance of the Middle East, but with an involvement of Hamas that will hardly be accepted by Israel. “Today we signed an agreement for national unity and we say that the way to achieve this goal is national unity. We are committed to national unity and we invoke it,” said Abu Marzuk. For his part, Wang Yi observed that “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.”
The news of the agreement between the Palestinian factions came from Beijing just as Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu was beginning his trip to Washington. And especially on the eve of the resumption, this Thursday, of negotiations for a ceasefire and the release of the hostages, in which one of the most important issues is the “day after” in Gaza.
The Beijing agreement must therefore be read in parallel with the other manoeuvres underway in relation to the conflict that has already lasted more than nine months in the Strip. Indeed, in these very hours the American website Axios leaked the news of a secret summit that was supposedly held between the United States, Israel and the United Arab Emirates last week. Preceded by an editorial in the Financial Times According to the report, Emirati diplomat Lana Nusseibeh has been open to the idea of deploying a temporary international mission in Gaza to respond to the humanitarian crisis, restore public order and lay the foundations for governance. Abu Dhabi is reportedly willing to send its troops, but on condition that the international mission acts upon a formal invitation from the Palestinian National Authority. This is a point that Netanyahu has always strongly opposed until now, although, according to some rumours, he could eventually give in to pressure from Washington.
What Beijing and Washington are proposing, therefore, are two very different and contrasting scenarios for the post-war Gaza crisis. And it is emblematic that in giving the news about Beijing’s agreement between the Palestinian factions the official agency of Ramallah, Wafa, make no reference to the specific issue of the government of the Strip. This is yet another confirmation of how confusing the situation remains and how the particular interests of the various “mediators” in the Gaza war are an element that complicates rather than facilitates the solution of the conflict.
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