Senior representatives of more than a dozen Palestinian factions, including Hamas and Fatah, signed a unity agreement in Beijing on Tuesday to form a government together.
There is a long-standing rivalry between Hamas, which has been in power in Gaza since 2007, and Fatah, the main force in the U.S.-backed Palestinian Authority that governs parts of the occupied West Bank. Multiple previous attempts at reconciliation have failed.
Chinese Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Mao Ning said on Tuesday the declaration is focused on “ending division and strengthening Palestinian national unity.” Foreign Minister Wang Yi also said, “The core outcome is that the PLO (Palestine Liberation Organization) is the sole legitimate representative of all Palestinian people,” adding that “an agreement has been reached on post-Gaza war governance and the establishment of a provisional national reconciliation government.”
Few details of what the unity government would look like were disclosed on Tuesday when the announcement was made.
Jonathan Fulton, a senior fellow with the Atlantic Council, told the Washington Examiner he was “skeptical” that this agreement would “result in a meaningful change.” He noted the previous unification attempts have “never worked, yet it might be that the intensity of the war in Gaza may change the calculus, but I don’t think so.”
He also argued Beijing “has completely antagonized Israel” in the aftermath of the Oct. 7 terrorist attack, and he said he believes “irreparable damage has been done,” which is why the country “can’t mediate between Israel and Palestine.”
Israel has said in the aftermath of Hamas’s Oct. 7 attack that it would not allow the terrorist group to continue governing over the strip, which the United States and many Western countries support. Israeli leaders, however, have also expressed discontent at the U.S.-supported idea that both Gaza and the West Bank could be governed by a revamped Palestinian Authority.
“As we have made clear for months, Hamas is a terrorist organization, something we also knew before Oct. 7, but when it comes to governance of Gaza at the end of the conflict, there can’t be a role for a terrorist organization. Hamas has long been a terrorist organization,” State Department spokesman Matthew Miller said on Tuesday.
He also reiterated the administration’s support for a “Palestinian Authority governing a unified Gaza and the West Bank.”
“Hamas and Fatah signed an agreement in China for joint control of Gaza after the war,” Israeli Foreign Minister Israel Katz said. “Instead of rejecting terrorism, Mahmoud Abbas embraces the murderers and rapists of Hamas, revealing his true face. In reality, this won’t happen because Hamas’s rule will be crushed, and Abbas will be watching Gaza from afar. Israel’s security will remain solely in Israel’s hands.”
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Israel has not provided a clear and comprehensive strategy for the governance and security of Gaza following the conclusion of the war.