Yossi Schwartz ISL (RCIT section in Israel/Occupied Palestine), 24.07.2024
Fatah, the leading faction, and Hamas signed the “Beijing Declaration” on Tuesday morning in which they agreed on the establishment of a temporary Palestinian government, Al Mayadeen, the Hezbollah-affiliated TV network reported. 14 Palestinian factions signed the declaration following a two-day meeting hosted by Wang Yi, the Chinese foreign minister, who called the meeting a historic moment for the cause of Palestine’s liberation. The standout highlight is consensus around establishing an interim national reconciliation government to manage Gaza after the war. Wang Yi repeated China’s wish for a comprehensive, lasting, and sustainable ceasefire and a two-state solution by an international peace conference.
The Fatah’s decision to sign the agreement with Hamas represents a decline in its relationship with Israel and the declining USA. The relationship between Hamas and the Fatah was marked by periods of cooperation and conflict. Unlike the Fatah, which is making an effort to show it recognizes and cooperates with the Zionist State, Hamas in the past rejected recognition of Israel and advocated armed resistance. At the same time, it offered Israel a Hoodna. (cease-fire for many years). In 2006, Hamas won a majority in the Palestinian legislative elections. This led to a power struggle and a civil war in Gaza in 2007. In this civil war, Fatah was backed by the Zionist state. In the end, Hamas took control of the strip while the Fatah-affiliated Palestinian Authority retained power in the West- Bank. Since then, there have been several attempts at reconciliation between Hamas and the Fatah, with agreements signed in 2011, 2014, and 2017 that did not materialize, and it is not sure that this time it will be different as Western imperialism will pressure the PA against the reconciliation.
China is not concerned with the liberation of the Palestinians. Israel and China have significant trade and military ties. The Zionist state is an essential supplier of advanced weapons. China is Israel’s third-largest trading partner. Trade volume expanded dramatically from $50 million in 1992 to over $10 billion by 2013. A significant portion of this trade is advanced military equipment. Israel’s military exports to China have occasionally caused tension with the US. A known example occurred in 2002 when the U.S. administration under President George W. Bush pressured Israel to cancel a planned sale of the Phalcon airborne early-warning radar system to China.
We oppose this agreement between Fatah and Hamas because we unconditionally support the Palestinian people and the struggle for Palestine to be free from the river to the sea that can be achieved by the working class led by revolutionary leadership and not by petit bourgeois secular or religious that because of class interests in the epoch of decay of capitalism can only betray the revolutionary struggle.
Palestine, red and free from the river to the sea!