When Syria and Saudi Arabia decided to mend broken fences, right after the Israeli offensive on Gaza ended in January, some speculated that the rapprochement would be short-lived and was born strictly out of a Saudi need to open temporary channels with Hamas.
Clearly from the war's outcome, the Islamic group had not been destroyed by the Israeli Defense Forces, and not talking to it was not going to make it go away. The rising popularity of Hamas on the Islamic street, especially in Saudi Arabia, and the fact that several Western heavyweights such as French President Nicolas Sarkozy were now talking to Hamas via Syria, meant Saudi Arabia simply had to follow suit.
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