BEIJING: World leaders and experts welcomed the signing of a declaration by 14 Palestinian factions in Beijing and lauded China’s role in promoting it.
The signing of the Beijing Declaration on Ending Division and Strengthening Palestinian National Unity is “an additional positive step” toward achieving Palestinian national unity and represents “the ideal and most appropriate national solution” for the Palestinian situation after the conflict, Hamas said on Tuesday.
UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres “very much welcomes the signing of the Beijing Declaration by the Palestinian factions,” said Stephane Dujarric, spokesperson for the UN chief, in response to questions at a regular daily briefing on Tuesday.
Terming the deal as “an important step towards furthering Palestinian unity,” Dujarric said the secretary-general “encourages all factions to overcome their differences through dialogue and urges them to follow up on the commitments that were made in Beijing and the declaration they signed on to.”
In a statement on Tuesday, Malaysian Prime Minister Anwar Ibrahim said that uniting the various Palestinian factions under the Beijing Declaration is a crucial step toward realizing the rights of the Palestinian people.
“It is my sincere hope that this declaration of unity will translate into tangible results on the ground and withstand future challenges,” he said.
The talks in Beijing involved 14 Palestinian factions, with all their positions balanced, thus constituting a basis for ending the division, said Abdel Mohdy Motawe, a Cairo-based researcher and executive director of the Middle East Forum for Strategic Studies and National Security. It is an important step toward ending the division and strengthening national unity within the framework of the Palestine Liberation Organization, with the inclusion of all Palestinian forces and factions in its institutions, said Abu Bakr Al-Deeb, an advisor to the Cairo-based Arab Center for Research and Studies. –The Daily Mail-China Daily news exchange item
