Several proposals, including a French one to allow the World Bank to channel funds to pay salaries, are expected to be presented at the meeting in New York...

The Bush administration says it will listen to proposals over how to pay 160,000 unpaid government employees but is unlikely to stray from its strategy of isolating Hamas until the militant group renounces violence, recognizes Israel and agrees to previous deals between Palestinians and Israelis.

The related and larger issue of how to return to a peace process rather than a war process will apparently not be discussed. The 160,000 workers to be paid will include the members of the 3,000 man militia that the Hamas has recruited and armed, with the declared aim of ensuring the unhindered continuation of terrorist activities while quelling intra-Palestinian strife.

In the Palestinian authority, the Hamas are in power and consistently repudiate the peace process. In Israel, the government of Ehud Olmert virtually ignores the peace process and the roadmap. In the Palestinian areas, there is chaos. Three people were killed and many wounded Monday in shootouts between the Hamas and Fatah Al-Aqsa brigades. Today an additional nine people were wounded. PCHR continues to document the less dramatic but constant undercurrent of violence that characterizes Palestinian life.

The quartet has so far refused to transfer funds to the Hamas, as long as they refuse to recognize Israel. The result is looming economic disaster in the Palestinian authority. In March the World Bank had estimated that by the end of 2006 Palestinian poverty would reach 67%, unemployment levels would rise to 40 percent, and personal incomes would drop by 30 percent. It seems they now think that estimate was too optimistic. The World Bank now estimates that the crisis is worse than they thought previously, though they are not saying how much. The Boston Globe outlines the worsening medical situation in the Palestinian authority, as hospitals run out of medicines and supplies. Four dialysis patients died in Gaza today as the result of lack of supplies. Russia has donated $10 million, distributed by President Mahmoud Abbas to Palestinian NGOs. That may stave off immediate disaster, but will not solve the Palestinian economic crisis. .

Nobody can doubt that the situation is serious. It is not at all clear what to do about it. The medical crisis could certainly be averted by channeling aid directly to hospitals or treating the patients in Israel or Jordan. Opening the money faucets without any change in the Hamas position may buy quiet for a time, but it is not a solution. Money is fungible, as James Baker once remarked. In the midst of the economic crisis, it is well to remember that both the Hamas and Fatah are founding new "security forces" (terrorist militias). When Hamas says they won't be able to pay salaries, do they include the salaries of their new "security force?" The Hamas is also supposedly spending hundreds of thousands of dollars to arm its new security force, which will be headed by a wanted terrorist. More money will buy more guns and more people to carry the guns, not necessarily more medicines. Those who urge a "kinder" policy toward the Hamas point out that Hamas has kept the truce that it undertook in 2005, despite its stubborn refusal to recognize Israel. On the other hand, the suspicion is not absent that the hand of the Hamas is directly behind some terror attacks, and that the rain of Qassam rockets on Israel could be stopped by the Hamas if they were so minded. The Israeli General Security Service points to evidence that the Hamas was involved in the foiled attack on Karni crossing. Therefore, the insistence that the Hamas join the peace process is not just stubborn insistence on a formality. On the other hand, lack of money will drive the same people to work as hired guns for the Islamic Jihad and related groups. Other reports claim the Hamas is subcontracting Qassam rocket attacks to the Popular Resistance committees.

The international community agreed to support the Palestinian Authority on the premise that the Palestinian Authority is engaged in building a peaceful society. The Palestinians chose to elect the Hamas, who repeatedly declare that they have no interest in peace with Israel and will never recognize Israel.

As one writer points out in the Beirut Daily Star:

... Hamas does not want to transform itself from a resistance movement into a political party....

Hamas is entering a long dark tunnel with no way out. Now, with Fatah split and virtually dying, maybe it's time for the Palestinian people to think about building a new national movement.

The current situation is pregnant with two dismal possibilities: With or without subsidies that would be spent on the employment of more militia units, the Palestinians will slowly starve in misery and chaos, and the Israelis will be subjected to a reign of terror.

The convergence plan of Ehud Olmert is not a long term solution. In Hebrew, "convergence" is a play on words, since the Hebrew word is "Hitkansut", which can also mean "turning inward" both to end the preoccupation with occupation and settlement, and to end the terror by ignore it and isolating it. But the Qassam rockets prove that the terror will not be contained by any security fence. They will be succeeded by Katyousha and Grad rockets and other horrors. However, the larger tragedy is undoubtedly the one that is in store for the Palestinian Arabs of the West Bank and Gaza.

The problem is thus how to save the Palestinians from themselves. The quartet cannot do it alone. Israel cannot do it for the Palestinians. Only the Palestinians can save themselves, but they cannot do it alone either. All of them will probably require the cooperation of the Arab states as well.

The Palestinians need to create a political and social entity that is capable of supporting the government of a state. Fatah could not do so because they were corrupt. Hamas do not want to do so, because they do not want to give up their role as a "resistance" organization. Therefore a new political and social force must be created. Palestinians have two good models to emulate. The Labor Zionistsdeveloped precisely such a movement during the British mandate for Palestine, creating a labor union, a network of schools and hospitals and employment and agricultural services as well as the nucleus of an army that served as the basis for the Jewish state. The Hamas likewise built their power on their network of social services. Now is the time for the Palestinians to create a responsible, honest, moderate, secular movement that can provide an alternative to the Hamas. This movement needn't have a very specific political coloring, as it is not in power. It need only serve as an organization for supporting life in the Palestinian territories and an instrument for distribution of funds from international donors. This entity can be built, for example, using a network of existing NGOs as a nucleus. As order and hope are restored, hopefully Palestinian society will be governed by more moderate sentiments than those that moved the Palestinians to put the Hamas in power. Because this entity will have funding, and Hamas will not, they will eventually make the Hamas government irrelevant, whether or not the Hamas stay in power.

The international community and the Arab League have to do their part as well. Money is not enough. It is clear after more than a decade that the different Palestinian organizations are either incapable of, or unwilling, to maintain basic order inside Palestine, and that they cannot or will not stop terror because it is either physically impossible or political suicide. Return to Israeli occupation is out of the question. Therefore some outside force must assume responsibility for security until a more stable Palestinian society can be built. Given the total incompetence demonstrated by the Americans and British, who are now entangled in Iraq, they are not candidates to man such a force. The force must be an Arab force. Though this idea is surely abhorrent to Israel, Jordan Legion or Egyptian soldiers armed with carbines and riot dispersal weapons do not represent a strategic threat to Israel. If they can restore order in Palestine, Israel should be grateful.

The Israeli government has a part to play too. Israel will have to unfreeze the funds it owes the Palestinians to help support this new Palestinian entity. When security is guaranteed, the ports and border crossings of the Palestinian authorities must be opened to free transport of goods. At the same time, the Israeli government must not close off options for peace. It must provide a hopeful alternative to the eternal struggle offered by the Hamas and its allies.

All of the above are unfortunately admittedly politically impossible right now. There are no Palestinians trying to organize an entity that could be an alternative to the Hamas. There are no Arab states willing to risk their soldiers in the West Bank and Gaza and become entangled in the problems of Palestine. There is no political willingness in Israel to do anything other than find ways to paint the Arabs of Palestine out of the world political picture -- fence them off and make believe they are not there. While this solution is impossible right now, as the grim situation unfolds, it may look increasingly attractive. Palestinians will understand that there is no future with Hamas. Israeli will understand that they cannot make believe the Palestinian problem has vanished. The quartet will understand that they cannot solve problems just by pouring money on them. The Arab states will understand that Palestinian radicalization and chaos are threats to them as well. Poverty breeds radicalism, and radicalism can be exported.

Ami Isseroff