Hamas says its leader shook hands with Saudi Arabia’s King Salman after Muslim holiday prayers, signaling an easing of tensions over the Palestinian group’s ties with Saudi regional rival Iran. “This meeting will hopefully develop relations between Hamas and Saudi Arabia”, the Hamas source told Reuters.
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The Hamas delegation paid thanks to the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia for the warm welcome, praising the Saudi support of the Palestinian people and the Palestinian Cause.
The meeting – also attended by other senior Hamas members, as well as high-ranking Saudi officials – was the first of its kind for several years and appeared to end a prolonged period of hostile mutual mistrust between Hamas and the conservative Western-backed monarchy.
The meeting came just three days after six world powers concluded an agreement with Iran, Riyadh’s regional foe, over Tehran’s nuclear programme, a development which Saudi officials – in common with Israel – have criticised.
The group was jolted by civil war and rivalries in the wake of the Arab Spring in 2011 and relations with Iran soured over its refusal that year to back Tehran’s ally, Syrian President Bashar al-Assad, in his war against rebels.
Much of Hamas’s senior leadership decamped to Qatar, but the tiny gas-rich state was under pressure from fellow Gulf Arab countries to reduce its support for Islamist groups.
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But despite Mashaal’s stance, top officials in Hamas’s military wing, the Izz ad-Din al-Qassam Brigades, have recently been courting Iran in hopes that the Islamic Republic will provide substantial financial aid in order to rebuild the group’s armed forces in the Strip.
