The head of the political bureau of the Palestinian Hamas movement, Ismail Haniyeh, revealed that there are efforts by the movement to restore its relations with the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, cut off for years.
Haniyeh said in an interview with Russia Today channel on Thursday, that the movement is making efforts to restore relations with Saudi Arabia and with Jordan as well, pointing out that there are parties impeding reconciliation.
He pointed out that Hamas maintains the same distance with all Arab and international parties, and does not interfere in the internal affairs of any of these countries.
Relations between Saudi Arabia and Hamas reached their worst stage, against the background of the latter’s arrest of the movement’s leader, Mohammed al-Khudari, and his son, as part of a campaign that targeted dozens of Palestinians, some of whom hold Jordanian citizenship, after accusing them of supporting the Palestinian resistance.
In August 2021, the Saudi Criminal Court sentenced Al-Khudari to 15 years in prison, on charges of supporting the resistance, among 69 Jordanians and Palestinians, ranging from an acquittal to 22 years in prison.
Saudi Arabia had good relations with the Hamas movement, but it entered a period of lull and then a rupture in recent years.
