GAZA CITY, April 17 (IslamOnline.net) - The dissolution of the Palestinian Authority (PA) and pushing for a bi-national state is a realistic response to the U.S. endorsement of the Israeli occupation, a cohort of Palestinian politicians agreed.

Urging the PA to throw the ball in Israel’s court, the politicians told IslamOnline.net on Saturday, April 17, that such a step would force Israel to shoulder the backbreaking burden of some four million Palestinians.

"The Israelis themselves believe that dissolving the PA would spell disaster to them," Palestinian Legislative Council member Muawiya Al-Masri said.

He noted that the Israeli ruling Likud party had mooted the issue before Israeli Premier Ariel Sharon’s trip to Washington and were on board that the dissolution of the PA would cost Israel dearly.

"They realized that a pullout of the Gaza Strip is the best solution, bearing in mind that the re-occupation of the Palestinian territories and the fait accompli policy have proved futile," said the Palestinian lawmaker.

"In terms of money, dissolving the PA means that the Israeli occupation troops would pay around 10 billion shekels (around $2bn) in salaries of Palestinian employees."

Ali Al-Jarabawi, professor of politics in Beir Zeit University, said the dissolution of the PA would push for the bi-national state as threatened earlier in the year by Palestinian Prime Minister Ahmad Qorei.

"If this happened, Israel would face a demographic crisis and its existence would hang in the balance," said Jarabawi.

"The existence of a Palestinian Authority indeed serves best the interest of Israel, which by no means wants the Palestinians to demand an equal-footing status with the Israelis," if the PA was dissolved, added the expert.

But Amin Maqboul, member of Fatah’s Revolutionary Council, said the dissolution of the PA option should be first thourougly and legally scrutinized.

"We should first put our hands on the pros and cons of such a decision and whether it is in the interest of the Palestinian cause," he told IOL.

Maqboul said Fatah would go for the proposal if its pluses outnumbered its minuses and did not affect the international recognition of the Palestinian entity.

Mohammad Ghazal, a Hamas leader, agreed that such a decision would require "serious and in-depth" consideration.

"If the PA was an obstacle to the goals of the Palestinians, then it should be dissolved," he maintained.

Ghazal said this solution could sound "logical" and "suitable" for the PA in view of the status quo in the occupied Palestinian territories.

He dismissed the Israeli occupation as the "world’s cheapest occupation after the [1993] Oslo Accords had given Israel a free rein to occupy the Palestinian territories without for free".

"Now the PA is burdened with mind-boggling security, education, health and social costs, " said the Hamas official.

Jamil Al-Majdalawi, a leading member of the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine (PFLP), struck the discordant note, describing the dissolution notion as "precipitous".

He said the Palestinian Intifada and national unity "on a democratic basis" are the one and only response to the U.S. bias.

But contended that if the Palestinian factions and political powers were all convinced of the importance of dissolving the PA, for the sake of the struggle against the Israeli occupation, then the issue could be tackled with the Palestinian leadership.

Majdalawi also urged the PA to kill off the U.S.-backed political process following Bush’s statements.

"The political process was awkward from the very beginning…It should have come to end long ago as it made nothing to our people," he said.

Sharon revealed Friday for the first time the details of his controversial disengagement plan, which will see the pullout of Israeli troops and settlers from the Gaza Strip by the end of 2005.