Hamas Won’t Offend Saudis On Peace Plan, But Won’t Be Enthusiastic

Although Hamas rejects parts of the Saudi peace initiative that is being re-launched this week, it won’t be saying so in public. Sources in the Palestinian Authority say that Saudi King Abdullah has received a promise from Hamas leader-in-exile Khalid Mash’al that his group won’t make waves. For Hamas, the main problem is that the plan offers recognition of Israel by the Arab world and normalization of relations. Hamas leaders maintain it will never do so. The Israeli daily Haaretz cites Palestinian sources as explaining that the Hamas policy will be one of ambiguity in order not to offend the Saudi king.