Riyadh has decided to shut the door completely in Hamas’ face because it considers the resistance group an offshoot of the Muslim Brotherhood.
Information indicates that Riyadh was putting together a shocking proposition for Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas during his planned visit to Saudi Arabia, on July 22.
Under the plan, Saudi Arabia asked the Palestinian authority to send his soldiers to the Rafah crossing to pave the way for a new phase characterized by disarming Hamas and Islamic Jihad while Saudi Arabia and the UAE will pay whatever it takes to accomplish this goal.
Having been informed about the Saudi offer, Abbas felt that it would represent a political suicide for him and the Palestinian people and that it is intended, ultimately, to undermine national reconciliation and trigger a civil war in Palestine, especially after sensing the efficacy of the Resistance even in negotiations with Israel.
After returning to Ramallah Abbas said the main reason behind the Israeli aggression is to “abort the national reconciliation process.”
He spoke of the need to “take the Palestinian cause out of the political crossfire,” and stressed “the Palestinian leadership’s insistence on national unity and ending internal divisions.”
He also embraced the conditions of the Resistance even though he did say the priority is to end the Israeli assault on Gaza.
All the Palestinian Resistance factions received Abbas’ message with a sense of relief.
Also during a surprise visit of the emir of Qatar to Jeddah on July 23, King Abdullah told Sheikh Tamim that there is no alternative or parallel initiative to the Egyptian initiative.
The Qataris understood that there is a new condition before the Saudi, Emirati and Bahraini ambassadors return to Doha, namely, accepting the Egyptian initiative and ending support for Hamas.
There are Israeli positions that match almost entirely the Saudi, Emirati and Egyptian approach.
The former Israeli defense establishment official and the current director of the Political-Military Affairs Bureau at Israel's war ministry, Amos Gilad, said recently, “Our security cooperation with Egypt and the Persian Gulf states is unique,” and “This is the best period of security and diplomatic relations with the Arabs.”
There is other information that confirms more than that.
On July 20, Chairman of Israel’s Kadima party, Shaul Mofaz, issued a surprising statement calling for a role to be allocated for Saudi Arabia and the UAE “to disarm Hamas and other Resistance groups.”
Mofaz told Israel’s Channel 10 that it would be impossible for the Israeli army to demilitarize the Gaza Strip by force even if they decide to re-occupy it completely.
He added that Saudi Arabia and the UAE can, under current circumstances, play an important role in providing the necessary funds to carry out a comprehensive disarmament plan.
Palestinian sources close to Hamas and the Islamic Jihad are talking about generous offers by Persian Gulf States to Abbas to do what it takes to disarm the Resistance in return for rebuilding the Gaza Strip, lifting the economic siege and devising a comprehensive development plan in the West Bank and the Gaza Strip.
Saudi Arabia and the UAE are trying to mobilize support for the Egyptian initiative regionally and internationally despite the international community’s inaction in supporting the ceasefire initiative.
Palestinian Resistance sources, however, speak optimistically about Abbas’ positions in his message to the Palestinian people.
For the first time, he makes the Resistance rockets part of the struggle against the Israeli occupation.
NGD/SHI