JERUSALEM – Fuel ran short across the Palestinian Arab territories yesterday as efforts to pressure America into easing sanctions failed to provide a quick solution to the economic crisis.

The Palestinian Petroleum Agency said fuel stocks were within hours of running out after the Israeli monopoly supplier said it would stop deliveries because it had not been paid.

[The Zionist Organization of America has criticized the decision made by the Bush administration on Tuesday to a system to transfer funds for salaries and humanitarian assistance to the Palestinians, which represents a deviation from its policy of isolating Hamas.]

The fuel crisis added another dimension to a worsening humanitarian picture across Gaza and the West Bank brought about by the withdrawal of American and European aid to the Hamas-led Palestinian Arab government.

The mounting problems forced America to drop its hard-line stance on sanctions against Hamas. Under pressure from the European Union, Washington agreed to resume funding for the Palestinian Authority, weeks after stopping bilateral aid in an attempt to force Hamas to moderate its stance on Israel.

Western diplomats said it would take at least “one month, maybe two” before the situation was back to normal. In the meantime, it is feared Palestinian Arabs will die from acute medicine shortages.

But the reinstatement of funding is only temporary. After three months it will stop unless the decision is taken to continue with the measure.

Medical supplies are dangerously low in Palestinian Arab public hospitals. It will take weeks to restore medical stocks to safe levels and for this to happen a series of problems will have to be resolved by both Brussels and Washington.

In effect, Brussels and Washington are creating a parallel funding structure that will bypass Palestinian Authority organizations to fund hospitals, schools, and other social services.

This will take weeks, possibly months, to draw up.

Experts who run trust funds for the World Bank have proposed they are the most efficient means to channel cash to PA social services.

To satisfy the Americans, any transfer would have to be traceable and transparent.

Another acute problem is the inability of the PA to pay monthly salaries to 165,000 public sector employees.

The last two monthly paydays have been missed, removing overnight a huge amount of cash from the Palestinian economy. World Bank experts are trying to come up with a way of using trust funds to pay the public sector employees directly, although it will take time to verify the identity of a recipient and whether their claim to be paid is valid.

Hamas yesterday welcomed the decision to resume aid but added: “We were hoping that their decision could be more positive in dealing with the Palestinian government since it is an elected government that represents the Palestinian people.”

But one of its leaders said supporters should “send weapons, money, and men” to join its fight. “This is resistance, not terrorism,” he told a rally in Qatar.