By Colonel David Eshel
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. CONTINUE
