| An Interesting Article from Defense Update:
Just a little over a year has elapsed since Hamas won the controversial elections for the Palestinian parliament, but by the signing of the Mecca Agreement, it must now be celebrating its ultimate victory against all odds: The Saudi throne endorsed Ismail Haniyeh as Palestinian prime minister but any unity government to be established will from now on come under Saudi patronage. Money is no object either. The Saudi benefactor and its allies can funnel the Palestinian protectorate aid amounting to USD three billion every year without butting an eyelid. Their oil revenues last year alone, totaled some US$ 480 billion.
The most pressing goal in the Saudi Monarch's sights was Haniyeh’s personal guarantee to scale down in stages the Iranian and Hezbollah presence in Gaza and nullify Mahmoud Ahmadinejad's painstaking efforts, made last year to establish Tehran's strategic Mediterranian outpost in Gaza "Hamastan". King Abdullah bin Abdul Aziz al-Saud had groomed Ismail Haniyeh’s rise to the top of the Hamas' leadership during his visit to Riyadh in the second half of January..........
............But what worries the Saudi king is not Iran's active involvement in Palestinian affairs, but rather the domino theory of Iranian influence: the concern that this is yet another political move, coming on top of its intervention in Iraq and Lebanon. The attention that Saudi Arabia is paying to the Palestine Authority, whether Hamas or Fatah, is seen primarily as a way of attempting to contain the Iranian domino effect. The Saudi mediation initiative is therefore viewed as one that must succeed, or challenge the ultimate test of Saudi prestige in the region, a situation which the Saudi royal household cannot tolerate.
From Israel's point of view, the Mecca Agreement is certainly a worrisome development. The battle to hinder Hamas from gaining the world's acceptance may well end in defeat, because even the Bush administration would not be able to reject an intra-Palestinian compromise agreement led by the Saudi king. American interests in Saudi Arabia are dominant. Riyadh is the third-largest supplier of oil to the US and no administration in Washington would dare reject the Mecca Agreement that the Saudi king is so proud of, even if there are officials, which regard such an agreement as misplaced and counter to Israel's interest. But under the circumstances, it is clearly evident, that Israel can blame no one but its own shortsighted political leadership, which allowed the controversial January 2006 elections to be held at all, contrary to all forebodings and which brought Hamas to power.....
For the complete article:
h**p://www.defense-update.com/newscast/0207/analysis/analysis-140207.htm***
I do not see how this helps Israel or the Western Countries in general since the Saudi brand of radicallism is as bad or worse than any other.
Saudi's have taken a strong stand to counter against Iran's recent provocations. These actions are self serving to Saudi Arabia of course.
How can the US & Israel use this to their advantage, without turning the Gaza & West Bank into a Saudi/Wahabi state.
Check Six
Rocky
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