Hamas and Fatah meet for talks in Beijing, China
Palestinian factions Fatah and Hamas have met in China to discuss reconciliation.
According to the news agency ‘AFP’, Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman Lin Jian, referring to the groups by their official names, said on Tuesday that representatives of the Palestine National Liberation The Islamic Resistance Movement recently made a visit to Beijing.
Without specifying when the two sides met, the spokesman said the two sides discussed promoting Palestinian reconciliation.
China has historically been sympathetic to Palestine and a supporter of a two-state solution to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.
According to AFP, Beijing has been calling for an immediate ceasefire since the Israel-Hamas conflict in October last year.
At least 34,535 people, mostly women and children, have been killed so far in Israel’s retaliation in the Gaza Strip, the Hamas-run Health Ministry said on Tuesday.
Beijing said on Tuesday that the two factions agreed to continue the dialogue process to achieve Palestinian unity as soon as possible.
Lin Jian said that both sides also appreciated China’s strong support for the restoration of the legitimate rights of the Palestinian people.
He did not identify the Hamas and Fatah representatives who met in Beijing, but Chinese President Xi Jinping has called for an international peace conference to resolve the conflict.
In November, Beijing hosted a delegation of diplomats from Arab and Muslim-majority countries to which Foreign Minister Wang Yi warned that a humanitarian tragedy was brewing in Gaza.