Saudis step up role in Mideast

Their current bid to broker Palestinian peace is part of a larger effort to counter Iran's influence, analysts say.

from the February 7, 2007 edition

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Mr. White predicts that a US withdrawal from the country would see Saudi Arabia funding Sunni Arab insurgent groups drawn from Saddam Hussein's old supporters. He points to Saudi Arabia's construction of a sophisticated fence along its border with Iraq as evidence of their expectation that the conflict there will spread.

While the US may be happy to see Saudi Arabia and other Sunni Arab states take action to counter the rise of Iranian influence, the US also helped install the Shiite government in Iraq that Saudi allies would seek to topple if the war there worsens, as analysts like White predict.

"We're not there yet, but when the proxy war starts that's going to be an incredible engine for regional instability," he says.

In Mecca Tuesday before talks between Hamas and Fatah, Hamas spokesman Fawzi Barhoum said the two groups share the will to find a solution to the internal conflict. "Both sides are coming without preconditions and without deadlines," he said.

Palestinian ambassador to Saudi Arabia Jamal al-Shobaki said a deal was crucial. "They will not leave this holy place without an agreement, because things are catastrophic on the ground and the whole world will turn its back on us if we continue that way."

Hamas sources said the group's Damascus-based leader Khaled Meshaal and the head of the Hamas-led government, Ismail Haniyeh, met with Saudi Arabia's King Abdullah after Mr. Meshaal arrived in the Red Sea port city of Jeddah.

King Abdullah met Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas, of Fatah, earlier and voiced hope they would "achieve the aspirations of the Palestinian people," the Saudi Press Agency said.

"We urged our brothers in Saudi Arabia to intervene to bridge the gaps to conclude an agreement," said Nabil Amr, an adviser to Mr. Abbas, after the meeting. "The alternative is more deterioration and early elections."

The Palestinian leaders are expected to seek inspiration by performing pilgrimage at the Grand Mosque in Mecca, Islam's holiest site.

Western countries have blocked funding to Hamas until it recognizes Israel and agrees to previous agreements with it signed by the Palestinian Authority, a self-rule body set up in 1993 on land occupied by Israel in 1967 and on which Palestinians hope to establish their own state.

Israel and the US do not want Abbas to agree to a unity government that stops short of recognizing the Jewish state, renouncing violence in the historic conflict between Israel and the Palestinians, and abiding by interim peace deals.

Senior Abbas aide Azzam al-Ahmad said the talks would aim to persuade Hamas to accept the program of the Palestine Liberation Organization (PLO), which would involve an implicit Hamas recognition of Israel that could end the aid blockade.

"This won't contradict the requirements for lifting the siege ... I'm sure once Hamas honors PLO agreements the Quartet will not be asking Hamas to recognize Israel any more," he said, referring to a bloc of Middle East peace mediators made up of the US, European Union, United Nations, and Russia.

Haniyeh, speaking before leaving his base in Gaza for the talks, said his side would do all it could to reach an agreement over the formation of a unity government.

• Material from Reuters was used in this story.

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