One of the most important developments in West Asia took place with the mediation of China on Tuesday, July 23, 2024. Fourteen Palestinian groups, including Hamas and Fatah, agreed to form an interim government of national reconciliation in Gaza after the war, brokered by Beijing. Of course, China's plan is not only related to the creation of government of national reconciliation. This plan consists of three steps about Gaza. The first step is to try to achieve a permanent and comprehensive ceasefire in Gaza as soon as possible and ensure the arrival of humanitarian aid. The second step is to adhere to the principle of Palestinian rule in Palestine and to work and cooperate to strengthen the government after the Gaza war, and the third step is to try for Palestine to become a full member of the United Nations and implement the two-state solution.
Although the agreements between the Palestinian groups, especially the two main groups, Fatah and Hamas, have a long history and have not been very durable and reliable in the past, it seems that at the current stage, when the war in Gaza is going on with full intensity, this development has new messages and can have serious implications for the region and the structure of the world system.
First of all, it seems that this agreement is against the plan of US President Joe Biden a few weeks ago (May 31), which includes a complete ceasefire, the withdrawal of Israeli soldiers from populated areas in the Gaza Strip, the release of some prisoners and the handover of the bodies of some prisoners, the return of Palestinian civilians to their homes in the Gaza Strip and the increase of humanitarian aid. While Biden's plan contained early and perhaps temporary offers for a ceasefire in Gaza, the Chinese president's plan has ideas for the future of political interactions between Palestinian groups and how to govern the independent state of Palestine; an approach that shows that China is no longer that isolated superpower that only seeks economic growth, it also has a glimpse of acting on a global scale and solving chronic challenges such as the Palestinian and Israeli crisis.
Although Israel's opposition to this agreement reduces the possibility of its implementation, China's mere entry into this arena indicates that this country is on the way to becoming a global superpower and is trying to challenge the authority and unity of the United States in various fields.
Another thing that can be learned from the agreement of the Palestinian groups in China is that, unlike the United States, which has many restrictions to restrain Israel, and even in the current situation, when the world is protesting against Israel's crimes in Gaza, tries to include the interests and demands of this regime in its plans. China is a more neutral superpower, it is not under the influence and pressure of the Zionist lobby, and as a result, it does not have special reasons and interests to grant special privileges to Israel, and the only thing that is important to it is securing the West Asian region to advance its various business and economic plans.
As a result, we witnessed that, unlike the United States, which tried in a secret meeting in the UAE in recent days to satisfy the demands of the Israeli regime, to create Arab or Islamic forces with the help of the Arab countries of the region and under international supervision as an alternative for the Palestinian resistance in the Gaza Strip, china, in the form of the Beijing Declaration, involved all influential groups in the Palestinian issue in the power game. The Beijing agreement closes the way for American-Zionist ideas and projects that are in line with the interests of Israel and seeks to create new realities in the region by finding alternative solutions. Based on this, it seems that the presence and participation of China in the settlement of such conflicts is questioning the Western discourse, which includes factors such as self-superior, self-righteousness to define global standards and norms, and unquestioning support for Israel and proposes a new discourse based on diversity, multilateralism, and economy-oriented peace.
Signing the Beijing Declaration, inviting Hamas to participate in this reconciliation agreement and planning for its participation in the post-war government in Gaza also contains an important political message. Contrary to the intense struggle of the Israeli regime to crush Hamas and remove it from the administration of the Palestinian territories, the recent agreement in China shows that world powers such as China have come to the conclusion that Israel is not capable of such a thing, and the Hamas group cannot be eliminated as a political-military power network that the people of Gaza favor. With such an attitude, China has tried to bring together all the influential political groups in Palestine with a realistic approach and create a solid and comprehensive foundation for the government of national reconciliation in the future independent Palestinian state.
Finally, it must be said that experience shows that peace agreements need the acceptance of the parties to become operational. As a result, in this particular case, if the Israeli regime does not accept it. The global community does not support it, and the probability of China's peace plan being realized and operational is low. However, just this effort shows that the Palestinian groups have come to the conclusion that the result of the Al-Aqsa Storm operation should be the unity of the Palestinian nation in order to end the war, genocide, and hunger imposed on them by the Israeli regime, and taste the independence and national unity. On the other hand, China, following the successful path of mediation for the reconciliation of Iran and Saudi Arabia, is looking for a more colorful role in the West Asian region in order to moderate the self-centered and unilateral approach of the United States and to establish a balanced and multilateral order in this region and (maybe in the future) in the world.
Mohammad Mehdi Mazaheri, university professor
(The opinions expressed are those of the authors and do not purport to reflect the opinions or views of the IPIS)