Mr. Fayyad is floating the proposal, first reported by Ha’aretz, just as Israel is announcing a crackdown on Islamic charities that it says are used to finance the Hamas government in Gaza. Israel has long opposed any reconciliation with Hamas, which does not recognize the Jewish state’s right to exist.

The prime minister reportedly has already sounded out the idea, aimed at bringing Hamas’s armed soldiers in Gaza under the umbrella of the Palestinian Authority, with Arab and Western diplomats

Mr. Fayyad — a pro-Western former official at the World Bank who was appointed prime minister last year as a compromise candidate belonging neither to Hamas nor to Fatah, which controls the West Bank — says his aim is to reunite Gaza and the West Bank under one government. Shortly after a bid to unite the two factions in 2007, Hamas, a fundamentalist group backed by Iran, took over Gaza and ousted all the security forces loyal to the more secular Fatah.

The new proposal includes “seeking Arab security support to help with the security situation in Gaza and deal with the obvious need for help that we have in restructuring our security capabilities and provide security services in a manner that is reassuring and effective to all during a transitional period,” Mr. Fayyad told Reuters yesterday.

This is a sound idea, but that does not mean that it will be successful.  At least the players in this conflict are trying to work out a deal for a lasting peace among themselves.  That is what needs to be done to achieve that peace.  I say let the US be a by-stander and peace is possible.