Saudi Alliances in Flux Amid Visits From PA President, Hamas Chiefs

The Hamas delegation visit appears to signify warming relations between Saudi Arabia and the Iran-backed movement

Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas arrived in Saudi Arabia on Monday in conjunction with a delegation from Hamas, the Islamist movement that governs the Gaza Strip.

Officials from Saudi Arabia invited Abbas to attend a banquet for iftar, the feast that follows the daily Ramadan fast. Hamas officials had arrived to perform a pilgrimage to Mecca known as the umrah, which, unlike the hajj, can be performed at any time of year.

The senior Hamas delegation includes political chief Ismail Haniyeh, deputy chief Khalil al-Hayya, former political chief Khaled Meshal, and Mousa Mohammed Abu Marzook, who is responsible for foreign affairs.

For many years, Saudi Arabia’s relationship with Hamas has been rigid and strained, with Saudi Arabia at points not allowing Hamas members to operate in the kingdom. In 2019, Saudi authorities arrested dozens of people linked to Hamas, saying they were threatening the kingdom’s rule.

Saudi Arabia has also accused Hamas of disrespecting its authority by undermining the 2007 Fatah-Hamas Mecca agreement meant to stop the internal military conflict between Palestine’s two largest parties.

What is happening is part of Saudi Arabia’s new approach regionally and internationally, and it’s an attempt to settle its problems. And it’s part of many calculated moves to distance itself somewhat from the United States of America in the region.

Ahmad Rafiq Awad, president of the Center for Jerusalem Studies at Al-Quds University, told The Media Line that “it is clear that this visit is of great importance.”

“What is happening is part of Saudi Arabia’s new approach regionally and internationally, and it’s an attempt to settle its problems. And it’s part of many calculated moves to distance itself somewhat from the United States of America in the region,” Awad said.

Awad said that the trip wouldn’t have been possible without receiving approval from top officials, making it clear that the kingdom’s stance on Hamas is shifting. He said that steps like these give credence to the belief that US influence in the region is “receding.”

“Even though the visit is religious, it, like everything in the region, has political implications,” Awad said.

In recent months, Hamas’ leadership has made several attempts to reconcile with Saudi Arabia. For its part, Saudi Arabia freed the Hamas members it had arrested, including senior Hamas member Mohammed al-Khodari, who was freed in October. Hamas seems to be using the visit to Saudi Arabia to further mend the relationship.

“Every country is looking after its own interests, including Saudi Arabia,” Awad said. “Therefore, we see a rapprochement with China and towards Iran, and there is also a change in approach towards the Palestinians.”

He noted that strengthening relations with Hamas would benefit Saudi Arabia by increasing the kingdom’s influence in the region.

Professor Hillel Frisch, a political scientist focused on the Arab world at the Jerusalem Institute for Strategy and Security, told The Media Line that the visit may represent a transformation in Saudi-Hamas relations.

“Saudi Arabia in the last decade has basically backed the Palestinian Authority and had a bad relationship with Hamas, so to see this happen is noteworthy,” he said.

The recently renewed ties between Iran and Saudi Arabia seem to have contributed to Saudi Arabia’s warmer relationship with Hamas, which is backed by Iran, he said.

Frisch described Abbas’ visit as an opportunity for the PA leader to address his political isolation. Abbas is attempting to avoid being overshadowed by Hamas, the PA’s rival, and hoping to receive financial aid from Saudi Arabia for the authority’s struggling economy.

“It will be difficult for him to persuade the Saudis to give money. Riyadh stopped providing easy cash to Arab governments, including to the Palestinians,” Hassan Awwad, a US-based Middle East affairs expert, told The Media Line.

Of course, they are not friends with Hamas, nor Iran, but they feel the Americans are out and they are helpless

Professor Efraim Inbar, president of the Jerusalem Institute for Strategy and Security, told The Media Line that Saudi Arabia was trying to build relationships with both Hamas and the PA due to a sense of insecurity in the region. “They are putting their bets on different horses,” he said.

“Of course, they are not friends with Hamas, nor Iran,” he said, “but they feel the Americans are out and they are helpless.”

Inbar said that many in the region share the perception that the US is shifting its focus away from the Middle East.

“The Americans didn’t do anything regarding the Houthi attacks on Saudi Arabia and the UAE. They stopped arming the Saudis because of the war in Yemen, so the Saudis feel vulnerable,” Inbar said.

The thaw in Saudi Arabia-Hamas relations is troubling for Israel, which has been trying to normalize its relationship with the kingdom, as well as for the US. Both Israel and the US want to establish an alliance between Israel and Sunni-majority countries like Saudi Arabia to temper the influence of Iran and its allies.

Israeli Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu made normalization with Saudi Arabia a top foreign policy priority, hoping that the Saudis will follow in the steps of their Gulf state partners, the United Arab Emirates and Bahrain, both of which normalized relations with Israel through the 2020 Abraham Accords.

Riyadh seems reluctant to go forward with normalization in light of the continued escalation between Israel and the Palestinians, according to a Wall Street Journal report.

“I don’t think it was correct of Netanyahu to expect normalization with Saudi Arabia any time soon. I think it was premature on the part of Israel to think that Saudi Arabia would normalize with Israel,” Inbar said.

Crown Prince and Prime Minister of Saudi Arabia Mohammed bin Salman “would not normalize relations with Israel before he solidifies his position in Saudi Arabia,” Inbar said, “and the struggle of who will rule the kingdom is not over.”

Amid the uptick in violence since the establishment of Netanyahu’s hard-line right-wing government, Saudi Arabia issued several condemnations of Israel. The kingdom specifically called out settlement expansion in the West Bank and violent confrontations between Israeli forces and Palestinians, and called comments from Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich “racist and irresponsible.”

Saudi Arabia’s invitations to Hamas and Abbas suggest that the kingdom is not particularly interested in working to establish relations with Israel.

“These visits make the idea of normalization with Israel far distant, or at least put a freeze on it,” Awad said.