RIYADH (Dispatches) – Saudi Arabia is hosting on Monday Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas and Hamas political chief Ismail Haniyeh, who is on his first trip to Riyadh in over a decade.
Abbas is visiting Riyadh with Hussein al-Sheikh, the secretary-general of the executive committee of the Palestine Liberation Organization (PLO), and Majed Faraj, the head of the Palestinian Authority’s General Intelligence Service.
Abbas and Haniyeh met face-to-face in Algeria in July 2022 for the first time in five years. It is unclear if they will meet in Riyadh to iron out their disputes or if the Saudi-sponsored talks will be held separately, behind closed doors.
The Palestinian Authority (PA), which is dominated by the Fatah party, and Hamas, the de facto ruler of the Gaza Strip, have been at odds over a range of political disagreements since 2007.
Two weeks ago, Saudi Arabia’s King Salman invited Abbas to an official iftar in the last days of Ramadan.
Bassem al-Agha, Palestine’s ambassador to Saudi Arabia, told the Voice of Palestine radio that Abbas “will arrive in Saudi Arabia on Monday, and will hold his meetings on Tuesday.”
On Sunday, Haniyeh headed a Hamas delegation to Riyadh with Saleh al-Arouri, his deputy, Mousa Abu Marzouk, a member of the Hamas political bureau, and Khaled Meshaal, the head of the group abroad.
The delegation will reportedly first pay a pilgrimage to Islam’s holiest site in Mecca.
A source close to Hamas told Andalou Agency that the delegation is scheduled to meet with Saudi officials “to discuss a number of issues related to Palestinian and regional affairs and bilateral issues between the kingdom and the movement.
“The issue of Palestinian detainees [in Saudi Arabia] will top the agenda of the Hamas visit, as it is scheduled to take several days,” the source said.
Following its landmark rapprochement with Iran, Riyadh is looking to also reset its relationship with Hamas.
The high-level delegation includes Hamas politburo chief Haniyeh, his deputy, Saleh al-Arouri, and the head of the group abroad, Khaled Meshaal, according to various Palestinian and Arabic-language media outlets.
On Saturday, Mousa Abu Marzouk, a member of the Hamas political bureau, went on Twitter to say: “Hamas is not part of any political or military axis, regardless of name and address. We are an Islamic resistance movement, and we seek relations with all living forces in the region and the world.”
The tweet, posted just ahead of a meeting with the Saudi state.
Saudi authorities earlier this year released two Palestinians with close ties to Hamas from prison.
Suleiman Haddad and his son Yahya Haddad were among nearly 68 Palestinians and Jordanians arrested in 2019.
The group was tried in mass trials in 2020 and a year later handed prison sentences ranging from six months to 22 years.
Following the release, Izzat al-Rashq, a member of Hamas’ political bureau thanked the Saudi government, considering it “a significant step in the right direction”.
In October last year, Saudi Arabia also released the former representative of Hamas after more than three years in detention.
Mohammed al-Khudari, 84, was released along with his son, Hani al-Khudari, and deported to Jordan.