{"id":270390,"date":"2024-07-29T12:00:23","date_gmt":"2024-07-29T11:00:23","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/?p=270390"},"modified":"2024-07-26T05:31:33","modified_gmt":"2024-07-26T04:31:33","slug":"palestinian-factions-sign-beijing-agreement-but-deep-obstacles-remain","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/2024\/07\/palestinian-factions-sign-beijing-agreement-but-deep-obstacles-remain\/","title":{"rendered":"Palestinian Factions Sign Beijing Agreement but Deep Obstacles Remain"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"\"<\/a>

Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi attends the closing ceremony of a reconciliation dialogue among Palestinian factions (Hamas and Fatah) resulting in the Beijing Declaration, 23 Jul 2024. Di Jianlan Xinhua News Agency<\/p><\/div>\n

24 Jul 2024 <\/em>– Yesterday, Palestinian factions in Beijing signed<\/a> yet another unity agreement to overcome 17 years of internal division between the two main Palestinian political factions, Hamas and Fatah.<\/p>\n

The deal, of which a leaked copy was published<\/a> by al-Masry al-Youm<\/em>, centers primarily around the formation of an \u201cinterim national reconciliation government\u201d to take charge of the West Bank and Gaza post-genocide and in preparation for elections, to secure an independent state on 1967 territory, to exclude any foreign role over any part of occupied territory after a ceasefire, as well as expand the Palestine Liberation Organization to include Hamas and other factions.<\/p>\n

The Beijing Declaration, as it has been named, gave no timeline for implementation.<\/p>\n

Hamas welcomed the declaration, saying it created a \u201cbarrier against all regional and international interventions that seek to impose realities against our people\u2019s interests.\u201d<\/p>\n

According<\/a> to Chinese state broadcaster, CCTV, the declaration, also signed by a slew of smaller factions, was evidence of Palestinian consensus on \u201cending division and strengthening Palestinian unity.\u201d<\/p>\n

But a host of problems face any attempt at implementation, and it may well turn out that its main significance lies in the fact that it was mediated by China, which is inexorably expanding<\/a> its role in the region.<\/p>\n

Vagueness<\/h2>\n

The first problem lies in its vagueness.<\/p>\n

There is no date set for implementation and Fatah officials have already said that most agreed measures would only happen after any ceasefire in Gaza.<\/p>\n

The focus on a technocratic unity government is also not much different from the discussions<\/a> held in Moscow in February.<\/p>\n

Talks there had moved the parties closer until Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas appointed a new PA government without consultation with Hamas and in contradiction to the spirit of the Moscow talks.<\/p>\n

The positive \u201catmosphere\u201d from Moscow soon dissolved into mutual recriminations, with Abbas\u2019 Fatah faction even releasing a statement blaming Hamas for Israel\u2019s genocidal violence in Gaza.<\/p>\n

Those \u201cwho were responsible for the return of the occupation to Gaza Strip and caused the Nakba which our Palestinian people live \u2026 have no right to dictate national priorities,\u201d Abbas\u2019 faction said in a statement on 15 March.<\/p>\n

This time around, Fatah seemed to have gotten the finger-pointing out of the way before the agreement was struck, with one official, Munir al-Yaghoub, apologizing and asking<\/a> to retract a statement to Saudi outlet al-Arabiya earlier in July basically echoing Israeli talking points:<\/p>\n

\u201cIf Hamas wanted to fight face-to-face with Israel, it would\u2019ve done so in areas where the army is located, and not in places where there are people,\u201d al-Yaghoub had said. \u201cHamas is actually hiding between the residents to protect and save itself.\u201d<\/p>\n

Fundamental issues<\/h2>\n

Statements like al-Yaghoub\u2019s underscore the distance between the two factions emanating from a fundamental divergence of strategy.<\/p>\n

The PLO, which is Fatah-dominated, renounced armed resistance to Israel\u2019s occupation as part of the 1993 Oslo agreement<\/a> that also saw it recognize Israel in return for little more than Israeli and US recognition of the PLO as the \u201csole, legitimate\u201d representative of the Palestinian people.<\/p>\n

That renunciation, and the flimsy Israeli concessions given under Oslo, prompted the late Palestinian intellectual Edward Said to resign from the PLO and describe the agreement as an \u201cinstrument of Palestinian surrender.\u201d<\/p>\n

By contrast, Hamas, in its 2017 charter<\/a>, described armed resistance as a \u201clegitimate right\u201d and \u201cthe strategic choice for protecting the principles and the rights of the Palestinian people.\u201d<\/p>\n

Hamas\u2019 position aligns with international law<\/a> under which a people under occupation have the right to fight \u201cfor independence, territorial integrity, national unity and liberation from colonial domination, apartheid and foreign occupation by all available means, including armed struggle.\u201d<\/p>\n

But it doesn\u2019t align with Washington\u2019s long-standing position, which has demanded that all Palestinian factions renounce armed struggle against Israel even absent any guarantees that this will end Israel\u2019s occupation, dismantle Israel\u2019s illegal settlements \u2013 which have expanded dramatically since Oslo \u2013 and see the return of those ethnically cleansed from their homes and lands in the 1947-49 Nakba.<\/p>\n

Little surprise then that the US almost instantly rejected the Beijing Declaration, with State Department spokesperson Matt Miller saying: \u201cWe made clear we want to see the Palestinian Authority\u201d with a governing role in Gaza, \u201cbut no, we do not want to see a role for Hamas.\u201d<\/p>\n

US leverage<\/h2>\n

The US position remains pivotal to Abbas.<\/p>\n

While the EU is the largest donor<\/a> to the Palestinian Authority, the US dominates funding<\/a> and training for the PA\u2019s security apparatus, specifically set up to \u201ccoordinate\u201d with the Israeli military.<\/p>\n

The PLO\u2019s exclusively diplomatic strategy has been long buried under the ceaseless expansion of illegal Israeli settlements. But the PA has insisted to continue its always unpopular security \u201ccoordination\u201d with Israel \u2013 in effect an outsourcing of Israel\u2019s occupation to Ramallah.<\/p>\n

Abbas\u2019 popularity, never high, has nose dived as a result of both the strategic failure and the security coordination.<\/p>\n

Poll after poll finds Abbas losing to any and all feasible candidates in theoretical elections \u2013 presidential terms under Palestinian law should be no longer than five years, but Abbas has not faced any vote since 2005 and has ruled largely by presidential decree for 14 years.<\/p>\n

In the latest poll<\/a> from the Palestinian Center for Policy and Survey Research, published on 10 July, a full 89 percent of respondents said they wanted Abbas to resign. More than 60 percent support the dissolution of the PA.<\/p>\n

In the last poll the question was asked, in March 2023, 63 percent<\/a> said they wanted an end to all security coordination with Israel.<\/p>\n

In other words, shorn of popular, political and legal legitimacy, Abbas depends for his continued rule on his security forces. These, in turn, have increasingly clamped down<\/a> on domestic dissent, even before 7 October, and with ever-growing<\/a> violence.<\/p>\n

This reliance on the security forces translates into a direct reliance on Washington\u2019s good graces. Indeed, US leverage only grows, the weaker and more unpopular Abbas becomes.<\/p>\n

China role<\/h2>\n

Washington\u2019s support for and complicity with Israel\u2019s genocide in Gaza \u2013 not to mention its rank incompetence<\/a> in pretending it is engaged in any kind of constructive diplomacy \u2013 should preclude it from any future diplomatic role in Palestine.<\/p>\n

China, which has been increasing its diplomatic and trading role in the region over several years, most notably by forging<\/a> Saudi-Iranian rapprochement in 2023, is the only country with the financial, military and political clout to seriously challenge US monopoly over regional diplomacy.<\/p>\n

And while the Beijing agreement is almost certain to go the way of so many other attempts<\/a> at reconciling Palestinian factions, it did underscore at least one area of significant agreement: A united rejection of any role for outsiders in a \u201cday-after\u201d scenario in Gaza.<\/p>\n

This is perhaps a direct response to the United Arab Emirates maneuvering to insert itself into the Gaza equation, calling<\/a> for a UAE-led \u201ctemporary international mission\u201d in Gaza after a ceasefire.<\/p>\n

Palestinian factions might be equally united in opposing any UAE role because of the rumored involvement of Muhammad Dahlan. The erstwhile Fatah leader, now in exile in the UAE after falling out with Abbas, and who oversaw the failed attempt at removing Hamas from power in Gaza in 2007, months ago suggested a similar scenario<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Or the rejection may simply be as a result of a realistic assessment of the record of the UAE\u2019s other foreign interventions in countries like Libya<\/a>, Yemen<\/a>, Egypt<\/a> and others, none of which have resulted in any discernible success.<\/p>\n

Nevertheless, it is a point of agreement that provides something to build on. And encouraging a growing role for Beijing and others might just offset Washington\u2019s outsized influence over diplomacy on Palestine.<\/p>\n

Indeed, the Beijing Declaration explicitly made this point, according<\/a> to the leaked document published by al-Masry al-Youm<\/em>. Commending China for its mediation efforts, the factions, according to the leaked agreement, pledged to work with international partners, specifically China and Russia, to \u201cend the Israeli occupation \u2026 under the umbrella and auspices of the United Nations and with broad international and regional participation as an alternative to unilateral and biased American sponsorship.\u201d<\/p>\n

And that surely is progress, however minimal.<\/p>\n

_________________________________________________<\/p>\n

Omar Karmi is an independent journalist and former Jerusalem and Washington, DC correspondent for <\/em>The National\u00a0newspaper.<\/em><\/p>\n

Go to Original – electronicintifada.net<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

24 Jul 2024 – Yesterday, Palestinian factions in Beijing signed yet another unity agreement to overcome 17 years of internal division between the two main Palestinian political factions, Hamas and Fatah.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":4,"featured_media":270391,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[195],"tags":[3350,244,2628,1030,865,1029,88,427,2497],"class_list":["post-270390","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-conflict-resolution-mediation","tag-beijing-declaration","tag-china","tag-conflict-mediation","tag-fatah","tag-genocide","tag-hamas","tag-israel","tag-palestine","tag-palestinians"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/270390","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/4"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=270390"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/270390\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":270393,"href":"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/270390\/revisions\/270393"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/270391"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=270390"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=270390"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=270390"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}