It says something about a new balance of power in the world that Hamas and Fatah are meeting in Beijing to see if reconciliation is possible. China has previously established diplomatic relations between Saudi Arabia and Iran. Now it’s the Palestinians’ turn.
Fatah’s delegation is led by Azzam al-Ahmed and was on his way to China on Friday, a Fatah official confirms.
A Hamas source states that their delegation is led by Moussa Abu Marzouk, who also boarded the flight to Beijing on Friday evening. (NTB)
The choice of venue says something about the USA’s influence and power being on the decline.
Several attempts at reconciliation have been made after Hamas kicked Fatah out of Gaza in 2007. NTB has a somewhat creative historiography:
Hamas won the elections in January 2006, the last to be held in the Palestinian territories.
However, the US, EU and Israel view the group as a terrorist organization and refused to recognize the government they formed.
It sounds like this is a subjective opinion. If a party has an armed branch that vows to wipe out the neighboring state and has just carried out a massive terrorist attack, it is more correct to say that Hamas is a terrorist organization and is proud of it.
NTB has adopted a Hamas apologetic line, i.e. the agency embellishes how bloody history is and has been:
In February 2007, Hamas therefore invited Fatah to join a unity government, which Norway was alone in the West to recognise.
Frustration at being met with a cold shoulder, as well as the US arming the Fatah-dominated security forces, resulted a few months later in armed conflict between the two groups in the Gaza Strip.
The conflict ended with the Fatah forces being chased out of Gaza, where Hamas and its armed militia have since held power. (NTB)
It was therefore “someone else’s fault” that Hamas and Fatah ended up in conflict. NTB fails to mention what no one forgets: Hamas threw Fatah people from the rooftops. Well, Fatah is corrupt, but they don’t commit those kinds of acts.
Hamas has seduced the Palestinians with violence, bestial violence. That is how they will be remembered.
China’s role is complex. China has many agendas. That it causes the parties to meet in Beijing is in itself sensational and says something about China’s growing power:
China is now calling for reconciliation between Fatah and Hamas, and a Chinese diplomat last month held talks with the Hamas political leader Ismail Haniyeh in Qatar.
– We support the strengthening of the Palestinian Authority, and we support the efforts of all Palestinian factions to achieve reconciliation and increased solidarity through dialogue and consultations, said a spokesperson for the Chinese Foreign Ministry, Wang Wenbin, during a press conference on Friday. (NTB)
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