By Staff, Agencies Palestinian factions have signed a “national unity” agreement aimed at maintaining Palestinian control over Gaza once “Israel’s” aggression on the enclave concludes. The deal, penned on Tuesday in China after three days of intensive talks, lays the groundwork for an “interim national reconciliation government” to rule post-war Gaza, said Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi.

The agreement was signed Hamas and Fatah, as well as 12 other Palestinian groups.

“Today we sign an agreement for national unity and we say that the path to completing this journey is national unity,” said senior Hamas official Mousa Abu Marzouk at a news conference in Beijing.

Mustapha Barghouti, secretary general of the Palestinian National Initiative, one of the 14 factions to sign onto the accord, stated that the agreement goes “much further” than any others reached in recent years.

He said its four main elements are the establishment of an interim national unity government, the formation of unified Palestinian leadership ahead of future elections, the free election of a new Palestinian National Council, and a general declaration of unity in the face of ongoing “Israeli” attacks.

The move towards a unity government is especially important, he said, because it “blocks ‘Israeli’ efforts to create some sort of collaborative structure against Palestinian interests”.