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Source: http://www.nytimes.com/2007/02/21/world/middleeast/21diplo.html
Mecca Accord Ended Rice's Attempt to Restart Peace Talks
[New York Times] Helene Cooper - An agreement signed in Mecca two weeks ago brought Hamas into a Palestinian unity government without requiring that it recognize Israel or forswear violence against it. The Saudi-brokered pact largely torpedoed the American-sponsored meeting on Monday between the Israelis and the Palestinians that was meant to jump-start peace talks. While the Bush administration has a view that pits America, its Arab allies, Israel and Europe against Iran, Syria and groups, including Hamas, that the U.S. considers terrorists, this is not necessarily how America's Sunni Arab allies view the world. In the past year, Shiite Iran has been wooing Hamas, which is Sunni. The Saudis did not like that, so they fought to get Hamas back on the Sunni side. The Mecca pact put an end, at least temporarily, to the Hamas-Fatah bloodletting. It also put an end, at least temporarily, to Rice's attempt to restart peace talks.