By Adam Graham-Silverman, CQ Staff

The administration is looking for a way to keep aid flowing if the Palestinians form a government that includes elements of Hamas, the militant anti-Israel group that controls Gaza.

Obama wants to alter language in the fiscal 2009 catchall spending law (PL 111-8) that makes the State Department worry about the possibility of a cutoff of aid to the Palestinian government should Hamas join the more moderate Fatah party in a power-sharing arrangement.

The administration said it is focused on ensuring that a Palestinian government meets internationally accepted conditions regarding Israel.

“This legislation is consistent with our policy,” said Benjamin Chang, a spokesman for the National Security Council.

“It would prohibit assistance to a government that does not accept the Quartet principles but would preserve the president’s flexibility to provide such assistance if that government were to accept and comply with the Quartet principles,” he said, referring to requirements that a Palestinian government accept Israel’s right to exist, renounce violence and abide by prior Israeli-Palestinian agreements.

Laws banning aid to Hamas enacted after it won elections in 2006 (PL 109-446) would remain in place.

But the new request appears to shift the burden of meeting the conditions from Hamas to the government, which could create space for a “technocratic” government and remove a possible impediment to negotiations among Palestinians.

“It is expected that such a power-sharing government would speak authoritatively for the entire Palestinian Authority government, including its ministries, agencies and instrumentalities,” according to language accompanying the request.

If Congress complies with Obama’s request, the president would also be allowed to waive restrictions on funding to any Palestinian government for a limited set of issues — such as border control, rule of law and peace negotiations — if he determines that is in the U.S. national security interest. A waiver would allow such money to go to a Palestinian government that did not meet the Quartet conditions.

A spokesman for Rep. Nita M. Lowey , D-N.Y., who heads the House Appropriations subcommittee with authority over funding for diplomatic efforts, said she wants to discuss the changes with the State Department to make sure the aid is accountable and does not go to Hamas or terrorist groups.

In a meeting with Lowey in Israel on Thursday, Deputy Foreign Minister Danny Ayalon warned that the United States must supervise Palestinian aid carefully.

“We cannot allow these funds to reach the hands of the terrorists,” Ayalon said, according to the Ministry of Foreign Affairs. “This is vital.”