#Israel
Palestine and China’s Strategic Imperative in the Middle East: A Win-Win Scenario or No Win at All?
On July 23, the news broke that Hamas, Fatah and twelve other Palestinian factions signed a joint agreement in Beijing (i.e., the Beijing Declaration) to form a unity government that would oversee the Palestinian…
Could China Be the Key to Palestinian Unity?
In April 2024, Beijing hosted reconciliation talks between two rival Palestinian factions, the Palestinian National Liberation Movement (Fatah) and the Islamic Resistance Movement (Hamas). Although the meeting brought no concrete results, the two sides seemingly showed willingness to continue working towards internal Palestinian unity and solidarity. This comes as China tries to establish a firm footing in the Middle East by aiding with the mediation of a ceasefire between Israel and Hamas, who have been at war since the October 7 massacre.
China’s Position on the Gaza War: Missing the Nuances
It has been over two months since the current conflict between Israel and Hamas started. Many have hoped that China will leverage its ‘friends to all’ position in the Middle East to facilitate a resolution of the conflict, including by participating in the release of hostages still held in Gaza. However, if Beijing’s success in brokering a rapprochement between Iran and Saudi Arabia earlier this year raised expectations of China’s greater diplomatic engagement in the region, then its reaction to the October 7 attack has managed to shatter them.
Israel-Hamas War: Testing Beijing’s Regional Diplomacy
On October 7, Hamas launched a surprise attack on Israel, resulting in more than a thousand deaths. As the world braces itself for a potential regional escalation in the face of Israel’s planned ground operation in Gaza, China’s attitude seems to be moving towards “pro-Palestinian neutrality.”
China Aims at Breaking Another Middle East Diplomatic Impasse
As China aims at building upon its previous diplomatic success in the Middle East, achieving normalization between Israel and Palestinians would be a much more difficult task to accomplish.
Stuck in the Middle: Israel’s Balancing Act amid the US-China Rivalry
With the Middle East undergoing significant geopolitical changes, many regional powers, including Israel, are entering a new era of their foreign policy. And as the superpower competition between Washington and Beijing intensifies, particularly in…