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 adversarial relationship between the two Palestinian groups is not new, but it may be reaching a boiling point, especially if both sides call in their benefactors, Iran and Saudi Arabia. Caught in the middle will be the mostly poor Palestinians who the PA and Hamas seek to govern.

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“The split between the two is irreconcilable,” Jonathan Schanzer, vice president of research at the Washington-based Foundation for Defense of Democracies, told FoxNews.com “You are watching a tug of war between the two sides for the soul of the Palestinian people.”

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