The Bush administration is extending its review of whether and how to assist Palestinians while keeping U.S. contributions out of the hands of Hamas.
The two weeks given for the review ended without a decision but with many hints. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice has told Congress no money will go to a Hamas-led government.
She also has said several times the United States would not turn its back on humanitarian projects, such as immunizing Palestinian children against disease.
The question reaches Congress on Thursday. The International Relations Committee of the House of Representatives is hearing political and security testimony from the State Department and development evaluations from the U.S. Agency for International Development.
Discussions with Palestinians in the area and deliberations within the State Department indicate there will be no formal announcement when the decision is made.
In due course, the department will contribute to specific projects, trying to skirt Hamas, the militant group that is due to take over the Palestinian government by virtue of a clear democratic election victory.
The Palestinians are bracing for an end to all U.S. development aid. This year the United States is contributing $150 million for projects and another $84 million through the United Nations.
The European Union, meanwhile, has decided to provide $143 million in emergency assistance to the caretaker Palestinian government led by Mahmoud Abbas, who has U.S. and European approval.
So far, the Europeans have remained silent on what it would do once Hamas, which both the U.S. and the European Union classify as a terrorist organization, takes control.
With the obvious approval of Israel, which has felt the pain and loss of Hamas attacks, the Bush administration, the Europeans, the United Nations and Russia - the so-called Quartet devoted to Middle East peacemaking - have agreed not to help Hamas.
The European contribution drew public U.S. support. ‘We are all working together to prevent a collapse of the interim (Palestinian Authority) government and to support the Palestinian people,’ State Department deputy spokesman Adam Ereli said.
Considering the economic woes of the Palestinians and a desire to promote an agreement between them and Israel, maintaining a solid front may not be easy. Russian President Vladimir Putin already has put out the welcome at for a Hamas delegation.
The Bush administration said hopefully it expected Russia to use the occasion to encourage Hamas to abandon its campaign against Israel.
Hamas hopes that in the talks that open Friday in Moscow it can induce the Russians to support it.