Hamas-Saudi relations ‘developing positively’

Relations between Hamas and Saudi Arabia are “developing positively”, the organisation’s spokesman Ismail Ridwan said, adding that the group hopes this will lead to lifting the siege on Gaza and opening the Rafah crossing.

Speaking to the Anadolu Agency, Ridwan said: “We are keen to develop our relations with Saudi Arabia, which has always stood with the Palestinian issue. We hope that the head of Hamas’s political bureau Khalid Meshaal visits Saudi and this visit contributes to regaining natural relations with the kingdom.”

On Sunday, during a discussion panel in Gaza, senior Hamas leader Mahmoud Al-Zahar said that there is a “prospective visit for Meshaal to Saudi Arabia.” He also stressed: “Hamas is keen to maintain good relations with Saudi Arabia.”

Al-Zahar said that any new information about Meshaal’s visit to Saudi Arabia would immediately be announced. If this visit happens, it would be the first of its kind since June 2012.

In addition, Al-Zahar said: “Saudi leads the Gulf in addition to being a large country in the region. It is seeking good relations with Hamas because of the political changes in the region as well as because of the control of the Houthi rebels in Yemen.”

Relations between Hamas and Saudi Arabia are not “perfect” because, journalists claim, of the connection between Hamas and the Muslim Brotherhood, while observers claim that Hamas’s rapprochement with Iran is the reason behind Saudi’s “worries” regarding Hamas.