Hamas delegation visits Saudi Arabia amid speculation of a thaw in relations

Expectations range from Saudi Arabia's recent movement in the Palestinian file.

On Sunday, a Hamas delegation headed by the group's political bureau chief, Ismail Haniyeh, is set to visit Saudi Arabia to perform Umrah (a minor pilgrimage to Mecca). 

The delegation includes Hamas deputy leader Saleh al-Arouri, the group's chairman abroad, Khaled Mashal, and other leaders. Meetings are also set to be held with Saudi officials. 

According to sources, it has been reported President of the State of Palestine, Mahmoud Abbas, is also expected to visit Saudi Arabia around the same time as the Hamas delegation. 

This has raised questions about whether the Saudis are trying to revive the Mecca Agreement, sponsored in 2007 by Riyadh, which accused Hamas of sabotaging the deal.

In addition to the possibility of Hamas-Fatah reconciliation, Hamas, which is "divided" into two factions, will fall under Riyadh. 

After the Syrian war, the group split into two factions: one led by Haniyeh, who is close to Iran and Hezbollah, and the other led by Mashal, who heads Hamas operations outside of Palestine resides in Qatar. 

Could Saudi Arabia be attempting to reunite Hamas and unite the two factions?

The relationship between Saudi Arabia and Hamas has become a stalemate over the years. 

While the Saudis had previously maintained good relations with Hamas, the two sides' relationship became strained after Saudi Arabia blamed Hamas for the failure of the Mecca Agreement, which Riyadh sponsored for the reconciliation of Hamas and Fatah. 

Moreover, the relationship hit an all-time low after Saudi Arabia arrested dozens of Hamas activists, including Mohammed al-Khudari, the group's representative, on charges of supporting resistance in 2019.

However, in 2022, the Saudi authorities released al-Khudari after three years of detention. In February of this year, several Palestinians were also released after serving their sentences.

 Despite the lack of relations between Hamas and Saudi Arabia in previous years, a Hamas delegation visited Saudi Arabia in 2015 but did not yield any progress in their ties.

Could the Iranian-Saudi rapprochement accelerate the improvement of the relationship between Hamas and Saudi Arabia?

Consequently, was the decision taken to unify the internal Palestinian factions to keep up with the opening of the regional hubs to each other?