NEW YORK, Feb 14: The United States and Israel are discussing ways to destabilize the Palestinian government so that newly elected Hamas officials will fail and elections will be called again, the New York Times said on Monday quoting Israeli officials and Western diplomats.

The intention is to starve the Palestinian Authority of money and international connections to the point where, some months from now, its president, Mahmoud Abbas is compelled to call a new election. The hope is that Palestinians will be so unhappy with life under Hamas that they will return to office a reformed and chastened Fatah movement, the newspaper said.

The report which was posted on the newspaper’s website immediately elicited strong response from Hamas spokesman Mushir al-Masri who while condemning US and Israeli interference said: “The United States, which claims herself to be the mother of democracy, must respect the election results and the will of the Palestinian people,” Hamas spokesman Mushir al-Masri said.

The Times said that the officials also argue that a close look at the election results shows that Hamas won a smaller mandate than previously understood.

The officials and diplomats, who said this approach was being discussed at the highest levels of the State Department and the Israeli government, spoke on condition of anonymity because they are not authorized to speak publicly on the issue.

However, the news paper said that officials and diplomats say Hamas will be given a choice: recognize Israel’s right to exist, forswear violence and accept previous Palestinian-Israeli agreements — as called for by the United Nations and the West — or face isolation and collapse.

The NYT quoted officials as saying Hamas plans to build up its militias and increase violence and, unless it renounces violence, accepts Israel and accepts previous Palestinian-Israeli agreements, must be starved of power.

“If they make the wrong choice, all the options lead in a bad direction,” a senior Western diplomat told the newspaper.

The strategy carries many risks, the officials conceded, saying Hamas would try to secure support from the larger Islamic world, including allies Syria and Iran.

Hamas may resort to an open military confrontation with Israel, it said, effectively beginning a third intifada, or uprising.

Opinion polls show that Hamas’s promise to better the lives of the Palestinian people was the main reason it won. But the United States and Israel say Palestinian life will only get harder if Hamas does not meet those three demands.

The officials drafting the plan know that Hamas leaders have repeatedly rejected demands to change and do not expect Hamas to meet them. “The point is to put this choice on Hamas’s shoulders,” a senior Western diplomat said. “If they make the wrong choice, all the options lead in a bad direction.”

The strategy has many risks, especially given that Hamas will try to secure needed support from the larger Islamic world, including its allies Syria and Iran, as well as from private donors the Times said.

It will blame Israel and the United States for its troubles, appeal to the world not to punish the Palestinian people for their free democratic choice, point to the real hardship that a lack of cash will produce and may very well resort to an open military confrontation with Israel, in a sense beginning a third intifada.

The officials said the destabilization plan centers largely on money. The Palestinian Authority has a monthly cash deficit of some $60 million to $70 million after it receives between $50 million and $55 million a month from Israel in taxes and customs duties.