The three-day internal reconciliation dialogue among Palestinian factions concluded in Beijing. Under China's mediation, 14 Palestinian factions jointly signed the Beijing Declaration on Ending Division and Strengthening Palestinian National Unity, which brought precious hope to the suffering Palestinian people. On the complex and hot issues in the Middle East, China has always been a builder of peace in the Middle East, upholding an objective and fair position and has been widely praised by the international community.
This is a hard-won reconciliation and a historic moment in the Palestinian liberation cause. The most important consensus reached in this dialogue is to achieve reconciliation and unity among the 14 factions, the most core achievement is to clarify that the PLO is the only legitimate representative of all Palestinian people, the most prominent highlight is to agree to form a temporary national reconciliation government around the post-war governance of Gaza, and the strongest call is to achieve the true independence of Palestine in accordance with relevant UN resolutions.
The Palestinian issue has always been the core of the Middle East issue, and achieving internal reconciliation in Palestine is an important step to promote the resolution of the Palestinian issue and achieve peace and stability in the Middle East. On the Palestinian issue, China has always stood on the side of peace, justice and righteousness. At this dialogue, China proposed a "three-step" initiative for the protracted Gaza conflict, contributing Chinese wisdom to help Palestine get out of its current predicament. Mahmoud Alul, vice chairman of the Palestine National Liberation Movement (Fatah), said that China is a light, and China's efforts for Palestinian reconciliation are rare on the international stage. EU Special Representative for the Middle East Peace Process Koopmans expressed high appreciation for this, emphasizing that this is a world-renowned achievement, which fully demonstrates that China is playing a positive and constructive role in promoting internal reconciliation in Palestine, a ceasefire in Gaza and the Middle East peace process.
After the outbreak of a new round of Palestinian-Israeli conflict in October 2023, China clearly opposed and condemned all violence and attacks against civilians, actively promoted peace and dialogue, and promoted the de-escalation of the conflict. Since the outbreak of the conflict, China has repeatedly clarified China's principled position on the current situation in Palestine and Israel, calling for an immediate ceasefire and end of the war to prevent the expansion of the conflict, and ensuring the safety and smooth flow of humanitarian aid. It stressed that the fundamental way out is to implement the "two-state solution" and promote an early comprehensive, just and lasting solution to the Palestinian issue. Chinese representatives have visited regional countries and attended relevant international peace conferences many times, actively shuttling back and forth to mediate. As the rotating presidency of the UN Security Council in November last year, China actively coordinated and presided over the adoption of the first Security Council resolution since the outbreak of this round of Palestinian-Israeli conflict, opening the initial steps to promote a ceasefire. In addition, China issued the "China's Position Paper on Solving the Palestinian-Israeli Conflict" and continued to provide emergency humanitarian assistance to the Gaza Strip. In May this year, the 10th Ministerial Meeting of the China-Arab States Cooperation Forum was held in Beijing. China and Arab countries issued a joint statement on the Palestinian issue, making a strong call for maintaining peace and defending justice on the Palestinian issue. Mustafa Barghouti, chairman of the Palestinian National Initiative, said that China has played a very important role both in supporting Palestinian unity and in supporting the rights of Palestinians. "China is very decent and honest and really wants to help us without interfering in our internal affairs."
People flee their homes in Khan Yunis, a city in the southern Gaza Strip, on July 22. The Palestinian Gaza Strip Health Department issued a statement on the 22nd saying that the Israeli army bombed the southern Gaza Strip city of Khan Yunis that day, killing at least 70 people and injuring more than 200 people. Xinhua News Agency (Photo by Rizek Abdul Jawad)
China has always been a builder of peace and promoter of stability in the Middle East. In March last year, Saudi Arabia and Iran reached a historic reconciliation with the support and promotion of China, and then restored diplomatic relations that had been interrupted for 7 years. Over the past year, Saudi Arabia and Iran have overcome their grievances and moved towards each other. The exchanges and cooperation in various fields such as diplomacy, economy, trade, and culture between the two countries have entered the "fast lane". Driven by the improvement of Saudi-Iranian relations, a round of "reconciliation wave" has been set off in the Middle East. Syria has returned to the Arab League family, Qatar has resumed diplomatic relations with Bahrain and the United Arab Emirates, Syria has resumed diplomatic relations with Tunisia and Saudi Arabia, and Turkey has normalized relations with Egypt. All parties generally believe that China's promotion of Saudi-Iranian reconciliation has set an example for regional countries to resolve conflicts and differences through dialogue and consultation and achieve good neighborliness and friendship. This time, China has made another important contribution to promoting the Middle East peace process by mediating the reconciliation of various Palestinian factions. Noha Begir, a professor of political science at the American University in Cairo, Egypt, said that China's help and support for Arab countries does not come with any political conditions, and Arab countries believe that China is a sincere partner.
Only when the various Palestinian factions speak with one voice can the voice of justice be louder, and only when they join hands and move forward side by side can the cause of national liberation succeed. There is still a long way to go to implement the Beijing Declaration, but as long as all parties continue to build consensus and put it into practice, the reconciliation process will become more and more solid and more united. In this process, China will continue to work for regional peace, advocate for justice, support the people of the Middle East to independently explore the path of development, support Middle Eastern countries to resolve differences through dialogue and consultation, and always be a promoter of security and stability in the Middle East, a collaborator for development and prosperity, and a supporter of unity and self-reliance, and make more contributions to regional reconciliation, peace and harmony.