The United States warned today it may cut back its $234 million aid earmarked for Palestinians this year because the militant group Hamas was expected to form a new Palestinian government.
President George W. Bush ruled out out giving aid to a Hamas government after its surprise election win on Wednesday unless it renounced violence and reversed its stance on Israel.
"They've got to get rid of that arm of their party which is armed and violent and secondly, they've got to get rid of that part of their platform that says they want to destroy Israel," Mr Bush said in an interview with CBS News. "And if they don't, we won't deal with them. Aid packages won't go forward."
The State Department went a step further yesterday, signaling that the United States would review all money given to Palestinians through the United Nations or nongovernmental groups, in addition to direct aid to the Palestinian Authority.
"To be very clear, we do not provide money to terrorist organizations," spokesman Sean McCormack said. Hamas is classified by the United States as a terrorist group.
"We will take a look at the full spectrum of our aid programs," Mr McCormack said, referring to a planned review of funds the United States gives to the Palestinians.
McCormack said everyone understood the Palestinians were poor and needed help. But he stressed US financial assistance had to follow US laws and policies which forbade giving money to "terrorist" groups.
In an interview on Thursday, Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice said the United States would not give direct assistance to Hamas. When asked whether this meant humanitarian aid would stop too, she declined to speculate.