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Tuesday, July 28, 2015
Regional manoeuvres: A Hamas visit to Riyadh leaves Egypt, Iran wondering

Regional manoeuvres: A Hamas visit to Riyadh leaves Egypt, Iran wondering
A visit to Riyadh by the head of Hamas left consternation among some parties
and questions among some observers. What did Saudi Arabia aim to achieve,
asks Ahmed Eleiba
Ahmed Eleiba , Tuesday 28 Jul 2015
http://english.ahram.org.eg/NewsContent/1/151/136392/Egypt/Features/Regional-manoeuvres-A-Hamas-visit-to-Riyadh-leaves.aspx

The visit by Hamas Politburo Chief Khaled Meshaal to Saudi Arabia and
his meeting with King Salman Bin Abdel-Aziz raised the issue of how the
kingdom has opened up to the group under King Salman’s reign. The visit is
part of a series of meetings with other Muslim Brotherhood leaders,
including Yemeni Muslim Brotherhood leaders and key figures in the Yemeni
Reform Party (Al-Islah), Abdel-Meguid Al-Zindani and Salman Al-Ouda.

Senior sources close to Hamas, however, stated there were problems between
the kingdom and Hamas that delayed the visit by two months, but that the
Muslim Brotherhood general guide in Jordan, Hamam Said, visited Saudi Arabia
two weeks ahead of Meshaal’s trip.

Said was invited by Saudi Minister of Religious Endowments Saleh Bin
Abdel-Aziz Al-Sheikh and talks resolved most outstanding issues between the
two sides. Saudi Arabia Foreign Minister Adel Al-Jubeir at a joint press
conference with his Egyptian counterpart Sameh Shukri on Thursday, said
"there was no political visit by Hamas to the kingdom", trivialising the
significance of Hamas visit, saying it was only a religious pilgrimage and
Riyadh's position on the Palestinian Islamist movement remains unchanged.

In Cairo, the main theme when analysing Meshaal’s visit to Saudi Arabia
revolved around a rapprochement between the kingdom and the Muslim
Brotherhood, which is contrary to the position of the previous king on the
30 June 2013 events in Egypt and his wholehearted support for them.

Supporting this perception is the existence of contrasting strategic points
between Cairo and Riyadh on issues such as Saudi Arabia’s position on Yemen
under the new king, which many view as incompatible with the traditional
approach of Egypt. While Egyptian and Saudi diplomatic sources continuously
deny leaks highlighting disputes between the two sides, tensions have been
unmistakable.

A press statement released by Hamas stated that Meshaal and his delegation
met Friday with King Salman, Crown Prince Mohamed Bin Nayef and
second-in-line Prince Mohamed Bin Salman. A day earlier, they met with
Intelligence Chief General Khaled Bin Ali Bin Abdullah Al-Hemedan. Hamas
added that during the two-day visit Meshaal and his delegation also
performed a smaller pilgrimage (omra) and attended Eid prayers in Mecca.
According to the statement, the delegation also included politburo members
Moussa Abu Marzouq, Saleh Al-Arouri and Mohamed Nizal.

Ismail Haniyeh, deputy chief of Hamas’ politburo, said that the visit was
fruitful and a success. Haniyeh said at a news conference in Gaza that he
hoped the trip would be a promising start for “restoring historic ties and
brotherly bonds with our brothers in Saudi Arabia”. “The relationship
between us and Saudi Arabia and our Arab brothers is organic,” he said.
“Hamas is an Arab Islamic Palestinian liberation movement and we need our
entire nation.”

Earlier, Saudi Arabia had released a leading figure in Hamas after his
arrest upon US request under a claim of funding terrorism. After his
release, this figure met with Meshaal in Jeddah during his trip, and he is
likely to leave for Qatar soon. According to Osama Hamdan, who is in charge
of Hamas’s foreign relations, the visit is a true breakthrough in relations
between the two sides after three years of silence.

Meanwhile, others believe a network of new alliances in the region is being
formed based on current strategic and geopolitical transformations,
especially what will happen after Iran’s nuclear issue is settled with the
West.

“We should not look at the issue from the narrow perspective of the
relationship between Hamas, an offshoot of the main Muslim Brotherhood
organisation, and Saudi Arabia during that visit,” stated Sobhi Esseila, an
expert at Al-Ahram Centre for Political and Strategic Studies. “It is
natural for Hamas to ask Saudi Arabia to put in a good word with Cairo about
the Muslim Brotherhood in Egypt. However, the priority for Saudi Arabia is
forming alliances to confront Iran’s regional political impact in the wake
of the nuclear deal. Thus, Riyadh is keen on winning everyone to its side;
it does not want to lose Egypt or Hamas especially since the group is funded
by Iran.”

Esseila said Egypt is not worried about this strategy: “We must understand
that the Gulf is the main loser in the nuclear deal and that the West has
entirely abandoned the Gulf.”

In Saudi Arabia, there is a belief that there can be flexibility with the
Muslim Brotherhood because the scheme that worried the kingdom has failed.
“The Brotherhood took a huge loss in Saudi Arabia because it declared its
existence there 25 January, contrary to the agreement between Saudi Arabia
founder King Abdel-Aziz Bin Saud and Muslim Brotherhood founder Sheikh
Hassan Al-Banna,” Nageh Ibrahim, a key Muslim Brotherhood figure, told
Al-Ahram Weekly. “This was not a prudent move by the group and it paid a
high price.”

Saleh Al-Ghamdi, a Saudi expert, told the Weekly that, “Saudi’s relationship
with Egypt is a red line, and Egypt’s stability is paramount for Saudi
Arabia. Riyadh wants to strike a balance between Saudi strategic interests.
This requires it to strengthen its hand in its next confrontation with Iran,
including winning Hamas to its side, and meanwhile maintain key and
strategic relations with Egypt.”

Hamas returned to Iran’s fold after a boycott because of Iran’s policies in
Syria and its war there, which had required Hamas to support it and stand by
Bashar Al-Assad’s regime. Hamas refused and moved the headquarters of its
politburo from Damascus to Qatar, which also became the destination of
choice for Egyptian Muslim Brotherhood figures after the latter fell from
power mid-2013. According to Palestinian sources in Gaza, Lebanon’s
Hizbullah sought to repair relations between Hamas and Tehran because of
common fundamentals on resistance and fighting Israel. The first meeting
between the two sides took place in Beirut in late July 2013, less than one
month after the Muslim Brotherhood was deposed in Egypt. What is unusual is
that the Cairo-based Abu Marzouq appears to be planning to relocate to Qatar
after heart surgery there in April, and that Egypt officially refused to
renew his residence.

Iranian media strongly criticised Meshaal’s visit to Saudi Arabia and
interpreted it as using Hamas in the war in Yemen that is overseen by
Defence Minister Prince Mohamed Bin Salman. According to Fares news agency,
Prince Bin Salman asked Hamas to send 700 fighters to train Yemenis for
mountain combat, and that Meshaal asked for $20 million to pay for salaries
and other financial shortages in the Gaza Strip resulting from the siege.
However, a Palestinian source close to Hamas told the Weekly that the
Iranian news agency analysed the visit from its own perspective, as did
everyone else from their viewpoint.

“The visit is not such a big deal,” he asserted. He explained that perhaps
Hamas and other factions in Gaza were receiving this sum annually from
Tehran, and so the Iranians felt Hamas would ask Riyadh to replace Tehran
since Iran fell out with Hamas.

The source added that Hamas immediately denied via social media reports any
discussions of a role for Hamas in Yemen.

Fatah, meanwhile, has another perspective on the visit. Pro-Fatah outlets
criticised the visit from a Palestinian and inter-Palestinian reconciliation
perspective. Last week, pro-Fatah news websites criticised Hamas for
undermining the Palestinian coalition government, which Fatah is asking
Saudi Arabia to help reach reconciliation with Hamas refusing. According to
Hamas’s Risala website, Saudi Arabia asked for official written
authorisation from both Fatah and Hamas, and that Hamas had obliged via
Meshaal and his delegation. However, the head of the Palestinian Authority,
Mahmoud Abbas, refused to sign such authorisation.

The website quoted Azzam Al-Ahmed, who is in charge of the reconciliation
issue in Fatah, as saying that he rejects any agreement or new attempt to
replace the Egyptian mediation role. He said: “From the start, Hamas
welcomed a Saudi role supporting reconciliation to lay the foundation for a
Mecca 2 agreement, whereby the kingdom and other Arab parties would oversee
the implementation of any agreement that will be reached.”

In Cairo, a source involved in the reconciliation process said that Riyadh
understands Egypt’s role in this regard and there is clear agreement between
the two sides on all aspects of the matter. “However, Hamas is trying to
promote certain positions for political reasons depending on circumstances,”
stated the source.

In conclusion, all parties interested in Hamas interpreted the meeting
between King Salman, Saudi officials, Meshaal and the Hamas delegation in
their own frames. Iran viewed it as part of Saudi Arabia’s new policies;
Egypt viewed it as spelling closer ties with the Muslim Brotherhood; in
Ramallah it was seen by Fatah as exploiting the issue of reconciliation.
However, no one addressed the Saudi position and what it wanted to achieve
through the visit. The only comment was by prominent media personality Jamal
Al-Khashoqgi who said after a phone call (without elaborating more) that
“Meshaal confirmed Hamas’s support of an Islamic Arab project under Saudi
leadership.”

This story was first published in Ahram Weekly on 23 July 2015.

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