Senior officials from rival groups Hamas and Fatah have agreed to meet in Beijing this month in a renewed bid for reconciliation, officials said Monday, according to the AFP news agency.
The Hamas delegation is to be headed by its Qatar-based political chief Ismail Haniyeh, while the Fatah representation will be led by deputy head Mahmud Alul, Fatah sources said.
Hamas had no immediate comment.
The representatives are to meet with Chinese officials in Beijing on July 20 and July 21, according to Fatah's central committee deputy secretary general Sabri Saidam.
Hamas and Fatah, which is the faction of PA chairman Mahmoud Abbas, have been at odds since 2007, when Hamas violently took control of Gaza in a bloody coup.
A unity government between Hamas and Fatah collapsed in 2015 when PA chairman Abbas decided to dissolve it amid a deepening rift between the sides.
Hamas and Fatah signed a reconciliation agreement in October of 2017, as part of which Hamas was to transfer power in Gaza by December 1 of that year.
That deadline was initially put back by 10 days and later reportedly hit “obstacles”. It has never been implemented.
After hosting a meeting of the two factions in April, China said Fatah and Hamas had expressed the will to seek reconciliation through unity talks in Beijing.
However, the talks which were supposed to be held last month were delayed.
China, which has sought to have a greater influence in the Middle East, has more than once offered to mediate talks between Israel and the Palestinian Authority, but has also expressed support for a two-state solution.
In 2013, China presented a four-point proposal for a solution to the Israel-PA conflict. The Chinese proposal focused on an independent Palestinian state, negotiations as the only way to peace, the principle of "land for peace", and on guarantees the international community should provide for the progress of the peace process.