Gazans have expressed hopes that the signing of the Beijing Declaration, a reconciliation and unity agreement between Palestinian factions, will unite all Palestinian people and help end the deadly conflict between Israel and Hamas, Reuters reports.
In a rare show of solidarity, representatives of 14 Palestinian factions, including Fatah and Hamas, on Tuesday jointly pledged to end their divisions and strengthen Palestinian unity by signing the Beijing Declaration.
The announcement was made at the conclusion of a three-day reconciliation dialog from July 21 to 23 in Beijing following China's invitation to intra-Palestinian reconciliation talks.
In interviews with China Media Group, Gazans expressed their sincere gratitude to China's diplomatic efforts, at a time when continuous Israeli attacks have led to a humanitarian crisis in the Palestinian enclave.
"We support the signing of the declaration between Palestinian factions in China and the establishment of an interim national reconciliation government for the cause of Palestinian people. All Palestinian factions should unite together for building a national government serving the people and promote the implementation of the Beijing Declaration. We want to thank the Chinese government as well as all others who have pushed for and support the agreement," said Rad Salem from Gaza.
"We are very happy and excited about the declaration signing. We hope all factions can unite together and speak with one voice. We wish for the early realization of the goals in the declaration. We hope it can happen tomorrow or the day after tomorrow. We sincerely thank China's efforts," said Khalid Abu Nada, another Gazan.
Residents in Gaza also hailed the pivotal role of the agreement in fostering reconciliation and ending years-long suffering.
"First, we want to thank China for hosting the reconciliation dialog between Palestinian factions. We hope the Beijing Declaration is the last agreement for resolving differences between various parties and puts an end to our sufferings. We also hope the document will bring all factions together to establish a national reconciliation government, rebuild Gaza, and realize true Palestinian unity," said a local named Mohammed Matar.
"China maintains good relations with various Palestinian factions. We hope that through these initiatives undertaken by China to bring together the various Palestinian forces and factions, especially the Fatah and Hamas Movements, the agreement that was just reached will end the political divisions, especially during this unprecedented humanitarian catastrophe in Gaza," said Amjad Shawa, director of the Palestinian NGO Network.
