Saudi Arabia's Diplomacy

ONE CONSEQUENCE of the Bush administration's recent decision to divide the Middle East between "extremists" and "moderates" was to marginalize U.S. diplomacy in the region. The administration refuses to talk to the "extremists" -- Iran, Syria, Hezbollah and Hamas -- but those governments and groups are at the center of every major conflict from Iraq to the Gaza Strip. Now one of the administration's "moderate" allies, Saudi Arabia, has stepped into the vacuum. The result has been a revealing demonstration of how talks with adversaries can sometimes be useful -- and a hint of what may be lost by Mr. Bush's inflexible policy.

In Riyadh yesterday, Saudi King Abdullah was hosting potentially groundbreaking negotiations between Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas and senior leaders of Hamas. While Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice has been preparing to have her own talks next week with Mr. Abbas and Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert, the intra-Palestinian discussions are considerably more important: They could determine whether a Palestinian administration emerges that is both willing and able to settle with Israel, or whether recent Palestinian factional fighting escalates. Significantly, the Hamas representatives in Riyadh include Khaled Meshal, a militant leader based in Damascus who has blocked previous moves toward a Palestinian accord. Saudi relations with Mr. Meshal's sponsor, Syrian President Bashar al-Assad, may be warming; Mr. Assad will soon be in Riyadh for a Saudi-hosted summit of the Arab League.

Saudi diplomats, including former ambassador to Washington Prince Bandar bin Sultan, are also deeply engaged in talks with Iran. The contacts began with a visit to Saudi Arabia by Ali Larijani, the head of Iran's national security council. Prince Bandar subsequently visited Tehran and, according to a report in the New York Times, King Abdullah received leaders of Hezbollah. Sunni-ruled Saudi Arabia and Shiite Iran back opposite sides in the escalating sectarian conflicts in Iraq and Lebanon, but the talks show that both governments are interested in tamping them down. Though there have been no breakthroughs, the diplomacy seems to have succeeded, at least, in cooling the situation in Lebanon, where a Hezbollah campaign against the Saudi-supported, pro-Western government led to several days of violence last month.

The Bush administration seems to be encouraging the Saudi diplomacy: The State Department praised the king's hosting of the Palestinian talks. In fact the Saudi initiatives, even with so-far-uncertain results, refute the premises of the administration's own policy of sharply dividing enemies from friends. U.S. strategy assumes that nothing can be gained by talks with Iranians such as Mr. Larijani and that nothing can cause militants such as Mr. Meshal to compromise. It's good that Saudi Arabia is testing a contrary theory in practice; even better would be some American diplomatic risk-taking.