International Desk: China and Russia have been supporters of Palestine for a long time. But recently, Beijing and Moscow have been seen in new and very different roles. They have stepped in as mediators in the Israeli-Palestinian conflict since the latest war in Gaza began nearly a year ago.

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In July, Hamas, Fatah and about a dozen other Palestinian groups signed a tentative agreement in the Chinese capital, Beijing. The deal was aimed at forming an 'interim government of national reconciliation' to govern Gaza after the war. The groups also met in Moscow in February for a similar deal.

Both China and Russia maintain relations with key regional power players such as Iran, Syria and Turkey. Unlike rival superpowers the United States, neither Beijing nor Moscow consider Hamas a terrorist organization. So China and Russia have no problem inviting Hamas to dialogue. However, such mediation will have any real results? Experts, however, think that is not possible. But here is another important question, what are China and Russia trying to do through this intervention?

In this regard, they have two main objectives: to gain international influence and to counter America and Western powers in the world .

From Mao Zedong to Xi Jinping,
history tells us that since the establishment of the modern People's Republic of China in 1949, this dominant country in Asia has been sympathetic to the Palestinians.
China's founder, Mao Zedong, saw Israel in exactly the same way he saw Taiwan: as a bastion of Western imperialism and established to contain potential critics of the international order imposed by Washington.

Ahmed Abouduh, a researcher at Chatham House, told BBC Mundo that this new Chinese anti-Western and anti-colonial narrative 'reflects its own experience of Palestinian suffering.'

Mao Zedong's support did not stop at rhetoric, however. Mao, who supported liberation movements around the world, sent weapons to the Palestine Liberation Organization (PLO) and had a great influence on their thinking. China's foreign policy changed with the rise to power of Deng Zhaoping in 1978 and his slogan of 'getting rich is glorious'.

To implement the vision of a socialist market economy, China had to reform and open itself to the world. And to do this, China had to move from idealism to realism. Instead of supporting non-states, China was keen to expand its diplomatic relations with the world's major and medium-sized powers.

Abbouduh said the accession of Xi Jinping to the presidency in China in 2012 changed things. Xi is reintroducing an ideological element to his foreign policy, but it has always been to protect China's interests, and the Israeli-Palestinian conflict may help China implement this approach.

From Stalin to Putin,
Russia's relationship with Palestine began a little differently. When Israel declared its independence in 1948, the Soviet Union under Joseph Stalin was one of the first countries in the world to recognize it.

"At the time, Israel seemed to have socialist leanings, while all the neighboring countries were European colonies," Mark Katz, professor emeritus of government and politics at George Mason University, told Mundo.

However, Israel did not become a socialist country, and in the mid-1950s, former Soviet leader Nikita Khrushchev aligned himself with Arab nationalism. "It was important for Moscow to look after Palestinian interests because while the US supported Israel, the Soviets were becoming more popular among Arab countries for supporting the Palestinians," Professor Katz said.

But while defending Palestinian interests was a matter of principle for many in the Arab world, for Moscow it was simply a matter of expediency.
"They were not going to support Palestine to the extent that it would risk conflict, especially with the United States, and they were never anti-Israel," Katz added.

With the fall of the Soviet Union, Russia began to soften toward Israel, and policies preventing Russian Jews from immigrating were relaxed. When Vladimir Putin became president of Russia in 2000, there were already more than a million Israelis of Soviet heritage, many of whom spoke Russian.

The Kremlin has since tried to balance its ties with Israel and support for the Palestinians.

Recently, however, relations with the Israeli government have grown colder since October 7 last year, when Hamas launched a surprise attack on Israel and took 251 hostages. Israel has so far killed more than 40,000 Palestinians in response to these attacks.

An Alternative World Order
China has already become the world's largest oil importer, with roughly half of the country's oil coming from the Middle East and Persian Gulf countries.

Does this mean that efforts to mediate the Israeli-Palestinian conflict are linked to China's economic interests? According to Chatham House Associate Fellow Ahmed Aboudouh, the answer is no. Ahmed Abudouh said, 'Many Arab countries have normalized their relations with Israel and those who have not yet, such as; Saudi Arabia, they are ready to do it once the Gaza war is resolved. China understands this.'

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In other words, no one is going to stop selling oil to China because of its position on the Israel-Palestine issue. China's main goal is to compete with the United States and position itself as a major power in the world.

"China wants to present itself as a reasonable and responsible great power, which is interested in mediation and peace-building," added Abouduh.

He also argues that Beijing is seeking to 'advance an alternative vision of the US world order' – particularly in regions of the world where most countries support the Palestinians. "I would say that China has no idea how to unify the Palestinians or how to resolve the complex conflict between the Palestinians and the Israelis, and it has no vested interest in resolving the conflict," Abudouh said.

Diverting attention from Ukraine
According to Professor Katz, for Russia, the conflict between Hamas and Israel has been very effective in diverting the world's attention from the war in Ukraine. Not only has the war in Ukraine been pushed off the news agenda since October 7 last year, but some of the arms aid Ukraine's allies, particularly the United States, have been sending to Kiev are now going to Israel as well.

"The Kremlin believes that the West is practicing a double policy by accusing Russia of occupying Ukraine while at the same time keeping silent about what Israel is doing to Palestine," Professor Katz said.

Chatham House's Ahmed Abbouduh said that Russia has taken the role of mediator on the Palestinian-Israeli issue to 'break out of the cold of international isolation' after the invasion of Ukraine. Hamas, the group that took control of Gaza in 2007, was not Russia's preferred Palestinian partner because of its Islamist ideology. However, Russia has had no problem working with the group, or even taking advantage of their relationship.

Professor Katz said that part of Putin's incentive to forge ties with Hamas was 'to ensure that Hamas does not support jihadist groups inside Russia, particularly in Chechnya.'

Professor Katz added, the strategy worked. When Russia invaded Georgia in 2008, both Hamas and Hezbollah supported the Russian position. That is, they did not side with the Muslims inside Russia. Despite maintaining ties to Hamas, the Kremlin does not appear to have sent any weapons to the group, according to experts. One reason is that Russia does not want to risk Israel providing similar aid to Ukraine, researchers say.

Different strategies
They may share some of their goals, especially to undermine US influence in the Middle East and the South, but China and Russia have different approaches.

First, Russia has become militarily involved in the region, as it did in the Syrian war, but China has no intention of doing so.
Abbouduh said China wants to preserve regional order in the Middle East by making some adjustments for its interests, while Russia wants to "completely dismantle it and rebuild it in a way that benefits Russian interests."

He added that Beijing wants to see the conflict resolved through the establishment of a Palestinian state, over which China would have the most influence. The Kremlin, however, is playing a different card. Moscow does not really want to solve the conflict between Israel and Palestine, but pretends to find a solution, mr. Abuduh is explaining.

'If this is ever resolved, neither side (Israel and the Palestinians) will need Russia for anything; They will both work on economic development and for that they will have to look either to the West or to China or both.'

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'Russia benefits from instability but not too much instability,' added Professor Katz. 'They want the contents of the pot to boil, but not boil over.'