Palestinian Fatah-Hamas leaders visit Saudi Arabia; meet with President Mahmoud Abbas and Crown Prince Mohammed Bin Salman

Riyadh – The leaders of Fatah and Hamas, Palestine’s two most influential political parties, are visiting Saudi Arabia. Palestinian President and Fatah party leader Mahmoud Abbas met Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman on Tuesday. In this meeting, the stalled peace talks with Israel and the creation of Palestine are claimed to have been discussed. However, a surprise is being expressed over the Saudi visit of the head of the Iran-Qatar-affiliated Hamas organisation.

Moreover, Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas’ administration in the West Bank is recognised by the United States, European and Arab allies. But the United States and Israel have declared that Hamas is a terrorist organisation in the Gaza Strip. Although the Arab countries have not listed Hamas as a terrorist organisation, they have not kept close ties with this organisation, which is affiliated with Iran and Qatar. Former Saudi King Abdullah met Hamas leader Ismail Haniyeh. But Saudi leaders have started criticising Hamas over the past few years for not being in the interests of the Palestinians.

In such a situation, the visit of Hamas leaders Ismail Haniyeh, Khaled Meshaal, Musa Abu Marzouk to Saudi is noteworthy. Also, Hamas leaders entered Saudi Arabia on Sunday. Palestinian President Abbas landed in Saudi’s Jeddah on Monday. After this, President Abbas met with the Crown Prince and Prime Minister Mohammed bin Salman on Tuesday. Whether the Hamas leaders meet Crown Prince Mohammed? This is not clear. But some Middle East media claim that the Saudi Crown Prince will try to establish reconciliation between Fatah and Hamas.

Meanwhile, a few weeks ago, Israel’s Prime Minister Netanyahu announced that he would sign the Abraham Accords with Saudi Arabia, like other Arab countries. But Saudi made it clear that cooperation with Israel is not possible unless the issue of Palestine is resolved. In this background, the presence of Fatah-Hamas leaders in Saudi is a very important development.

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