China is hosting talks between the two main Palestinian factions, but expectations are low.
Top officials from Hamas and Fatah, the two rival Palestinian factions, are meeting in Beijing this week as China seeks to show it is playing a bigger role in diplomacy in the Middle East.
But expectations for any substantial progress are low. Previous attempts to mediate between Hamas and Fatah — including a meeting in Beijing in April — failed to produce tangible results. The two groups have a fraught history and have been at loggerheads for years, each trying to present itself as the legitimate leader of the Palestinian people and wary that the other will undermine its power.
The meetings in Beijing instead appear to be a move by China to position itself as a peace broker after its success negotiating a deal between Saudi Arabia and Iran last year. Beijing is not involved in the cease-fire talks between Israel and Hamas that are being led by Qatar, Egypt, and the United States, but Palestinian experts have said cooperation between Hamas and Fatah is critical to discussions about a postwar future in Gaza.
Hamas and Fatah both dispatched top officials to the Chinese capital for the meetings, as did other smaller Palestinian factions.
Earlier this month, Mousa Abu Marzouk, a senior Hamas official, said Ismail Haniyeh, the chairman of Hamas’s political office, would be attending the meetings, but participants said Mr. Haniyeh was not present.
Mustafa Barghouti, the chairman of the Palestinian National Initiative, one of the smaller factions, said progress had made been achieved at the meetings in Beijing, but he cautioned that the real test would be whether Hamas and Fatah take steps to improve cooperation on the ground.
Wang Yi, China’s top diplomat, was expected to meet with Hamas and Fatah on Tuesday. China’s Foreign Ministry did not respond to a request for comment. In response to questions about the meetings at a news conference on Monday, a spokeswoman for the foreign ministry said, “China has always firmly supported the just cause of the Palestinian people to restore their legitimate national rights,” adding that details of the meetings would be released “in due course.”
Chinese diplomats are unlikely to take any bold steps that could risk exposing the limits of their own clout, said Robert Mogielnicki, a senior resident scholar at the Arab Gulf States Institute in Washington.
“Chinese officials will offer an international platform for their regional partners,” he said. “But the overarching goal here is to enhance Beijing’s global stature.”
Palestinian analysts were similarly pessimistic, citing significant obstacles.
Hamas and Fatah traveled to Beijing merely to placate their Chinese hosts, said Akram Atallah, a Palestinian columnist for Al-Ayyam, a Ramallah-based newspaper.
“They’re not going to China to make deals, develop cooperation and build a political partnership,” he said. “They’re going to honor China’s role.”
Zixu Wang contributed reporting from Hong Kong.
