Saudi Arabia Friends with Israel?

Accordng to StrategyPage, the Saudis are making a major behind-the-scenes effort to convince the Palestinians to restart negotiations with Israel. This may indicate a quiet shift in the Saudi position on the legitimacy of the “Zionist entity,” prompted largely by fears that a continuation of the Israel-Palestinian conflict will fuel Islamic radicalism in the kingdom itself. The Saudis are also worried about Iran. While, on the surface, Saudi Arabia is on good terms with its mighty neighbor across the Gulf, in private, Saudis are unhappy with growing Iranian military power. And then there is the religious angle. The Iranians are Shia Moslems, a sect based largely on a thousand year old disagreement over who is the legitimate successor to the founder of Islam.