Patrick Wintour 
Diplomatic editor
Wed 11 Oct 2023 15.35 EDT

Saudi Arabia has contacts with Hamas’s political wing, mainly via Qatar, but has no affinity with its leadership. It has not yet accused Hamas of trying to end reconciliation in the Middle East or alleged that Iran was behind the weekend attack. Iran has told Saudi not to strike a deal with the US, warning Saudis would be backing the wrong horse.

Saudi newspapers have become more explicit in saying there will be no peace in the region unless Palestine is granted its own state – even if they are reluctant to accuse Hamas in public of plotting to sabotage a possible three-way peace deal between Israel, Saudi and the US, which Hamas feared might have ditched lingering Palestinian hopes of a two-state solution.

Faisal Abbas, the editor-in-chief of the Riyadh-based Arab News, said a specialist team at the Saudi ministry of foreign affairs had for the past two years been working on an “Arab peace initiative 2.0” designed to provide incentives for both sides.

He said the kingdom had always made it clear that any wider three-way normalisation deal involving Saudi, the US and Israel would have to include specific progress on peace.

“Now we must act quickly to avert disaster. The Rubicon has been crossed. No one is expecting a repetition of previous scenarios which is a few days of escalation, calls for self restraint, a ceasefire agreement or Qatar or Saudi offer to rebuild Gaza,” he said, cautioning that a “patch-up solution” was insufficient as each cycle of violence is becoming worse.
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