Trapped:

The neglect and mistreatment of the 1.5 million Palestinians trapped in the Gaza Strip is a disgrace, and a very dangerous one. They are pawns in the struggle among Hamas, which controls Gaza and uses the territory to bombard Israel daily; its rivals in the Fatah movement that run the Palestinian Authority and the West Bank; and Israel.

If something isn’t done quickly to address the Gazans’ plight, President Bush’s Annapolis peace process could implode. Arab states, who for years have pleaded the Palestinian case and have thrown their support behind the Annapolis peace process, must use their influence to pressure Hamas’s leaders to halt rocket attacks, renounce terrorism and align with Fatah in pursuit of a peace deal. Egypt, whose stature as a peacemaker has withered under President Hosni Mubarak, should take immediate steps to shut down the tunnels that allow arms and money to flow to militants in Gaza.

Tony Blair, the former British prime minister who is now the Western envoy for Palestinian economic development, needs to come up with an aid strategy that ensures Gazans aren’t forced to suffer. Bush needs to appoint a high-level envoy to deal with this and other crises waiting to boil over. Gaza is a reminder that nothing in the peace effort can be ignored or taken for granted. — The New York Times