Israeli media sources reported on Wednesday that Saudi officials informed Israel one week before the Palestinian national dialogue started in Mecca that Saudi Arabia managed to achieve an agreement on the formation of a new Palestinian government under Saudi supervision. However, the government will not recognize Israel or the signed agreements, but instead it will respect the signed agreements.The sources added that that Saudi Arabia expects the United States and the European Union to lift the siege imposed on the Palestinian Authority directly after the new government is formed.
In a message addressed to the U.S President George Bush, and Vice President Dick Cheney, the Saudi king, Abdullah Ben Abdul-Aziz, said that Saudi Arabia will initiate transfer of fund to the Palestinian Authority and its institutions if the United States refrains from lifting the siege.
The Saudi monarch vowed in a letter to the Hamas political bureau chief, Khalid Mashal, to support the new Palestinian government. The letter was sent shortly before the Mecca conference.
Moreover, senior Saudi sources reported that Saudi diplomats are holding talks with senior US diplomats in Washington to explain to the United States that the country managed to achieve an agreement that will see the formation of a Palestinian government headed by an independent figure instead of the current Prime Minister, Ismail Haniyya.
The agreement also apparently states that Hamas will not be in charge of sensitive ministries, but the United States must not ignore two basic facts; Hamas will not recognize Israel, or the signed peace deals. Hamas will maintain its majority at the new ministerial council.
So far, US officials have refrained from commenting on the Saudi proposal apparently awaiting the results of the Mecca conference, its conclusions and how to implement them in the West Bank and the Gaza Strip.
Saudi Arabia intends to achieve the main goals through an organized media campaign following the declaration of a Palestinian unity government; forcing the European Union to lift the siege imposed on the Palestinians and creating a lobby in Israel that would achieve an Israeli recognition of the Mecca conference and its results.
Saudi Arabia, so far, has refrained from requesting Hamas to cut its ties with Iran in return of financial and political support from the kingdom.
