China-brokered Palestinian unity deal a boost to Beijing's world standing

But Hamas, Fatah factions not likely to share post-war power despite pact

- Jonathan Eyal,Tan Dawn Wei

More than a dozen Palestinian factions, including bitter rivals Fatah and Hamas, signed a joint declaration in Beijing on July 23, vowing to form an interim unity government that will govern all the occupied Palestinian lands once the fighting in Gaza stops.

The deal has been hailed by Beijing as a decisive step in ending the war in Gaza.

Foreign Minister Wang Yi described the agreement, dubbed the Beijing Declaration, as a “historic moment for the cause of Palestine’s liberation”, while state news agency Xinhua presented the deal as a “vivid manifestation of China’s concrete actions to promote the building of a community with a shared future for mankind”.

There is no question that brokering the Palestinian agreement will boost China’s international standing.

However, there are serious doubts about the deal’s practical implications for the fighting in Gaza or the broader power balance in the Middle East.

Although Chinese officials present the agreement they brokered as a great diplomatic breakthrough, the truth is that every few years, representatives of Hamas and Fatah - the leading proponents of the Palestinian cause - meet, sign a reconciliation agreement, and then promptly return to fighting each other.

Until recently, everything pointed to more confrontation. Hamas in Gaza continued to fight alone against Israel, while the secular Fatah of Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas hunted down its Islamist Hamas rivals in the West Bank.

Still, the Chinese intervention was perfectly timed.

Fatah’s control over the West Bank is increasingly tenuous, as the Israeli government defies both world public opinion and the advisory rulings of the International Court of Justice and continues to expand illegal Jewish settlements.

And although it has not been defeated, Hamas is struggling to retain control in Gaza.