The United States has warned the Palestinians that inclusion of the resistance group Hamas in any new government could affect US-backed efforts to establish an independent Palestinian state. Condoleezza Rice, the US secretary of state on Monday stopped short of threatening a cut in US aid to the Palestinians if they form a government with ministers from the hard-line Islamic movement after parliamentary polls on 25 January. "Let's just see what happens after the elections," Rice told reporters accompanying her on a visit to Liberia. But she added the US-sponsored peace road map directed at creating a Palestinian state was a "two-way street". "After these elections, the ability of the Palestinians to engage the Israelis to move forward on the roadmap is obviously going to be dependent on having people in the governing structures who believe in the principles of the roadmap," she said. "In order to negotiate with a party you have to believe in its right to exist. In order to have freedom of movement and%