China’s Middle East peace drive faces ‘big challenges’ after brokering Palestinian deal

Beijing will have to get Israel on board and ensure the Palestinian factions don’t fall out again, diplomatic observers warn

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Getting Israel on board could be Beijing’s “biggest challenge”. Photo: AFP

Published: 10:00pm, 24 Jul 2024Updated: 11:05pm, 24 Jul 2024

China’s success in bringing together rival Palestinian factions is only a first step, according to diplomatic observers who warned it faces a bigger challenge in making the deal stick and getting Israel on board.

“The declaration is a great breakthrough, but it will not be easy to advance it,” said Ma Xiaolin, an international relations specialist at Zhejiang International Studies University.

“The first step is to push for a ceasefire, but Israel has not changed its position on Hamas and has rejected Hamas involvement in the post-war governance of Gaza, and this will be the biggest challenge,” he said. “Maybe the next step for China is to send a special envoy to persuade Israel.”

Beijing has not released the full details of the deal between Fatah, Hamas and 12 smaller Palestinian factions. But the outlines of the agreement would see a Palestinian unity government being formed to oversee Gaza, the West Bank and East Jerusalem with elections to be held as soon as possible.

Although this implies acceptance of a two-state solution, both the United States and Israel have rejected any role for Hamas.

Israeli Foreign Minister Israel Katz posted on X, formerly Twitter, “this won’t happen because Hamas’s rule will be crushed”.