Hamas, PA could be next pawns in Saudi-Iranian proxy war
Top Palestinian Authority officials are appealing to Saudi Arabia to use an “iron hand” toward Iranian-backed rival Hamas, a development that underscores the ill will within the so-called unity government and could become the latest front for the proxy war between the Middle East powers.
With the Saudis indirectly engaging Iran in Yemen, where the Kingdom is trying to help the government put down the rebellion by the Iranian-supported Houthis, PA officials are asking the Saudis to do the same to Hamas. The PA, which claims to represent all Palestinians, governs the West Bank, while Hamas controls Gaza. The uneasy alliance between the two has degenerated into rancor in recent months, especially after Hamas declared in November that their unity government had ended.
“The Arab nation has to attack any illegal side in the Arab region with an iron hand,” Mahmoud Al-Habbash, religious advisor and close confidante of PA President Mahmoud Abbas, told worshippers in Ramallah recently. “It has to start from Palestine,” said Al-Habbash, adding that Hamas “must be attacked with an iron hand.”
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