Palestinian Authority Chairman Mahmoud Abbas will head to Washington for talks with United States officials following the Arab League summit set to take place in Saudi Arabia next week, a senior Palestinian source was quoted as saying Thursday by the Al-Quds daily.

The source also said that a delegation of the Palestine Liberation Organization was heading to Damascus for consultations with the leaders of the Palestinian factions based in Syria. According to the report, the delegation will then go to Cairo for negotiations on changes to the unity government deal reached last month in Mecca.

The U.S. intends to continue funding and training Palestinian security forces loyal to Abbas, despite the formation of a unity government with Hamas.

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Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice told the Congress House subcommittee that controls foreign aid that the State Department was close to completing a revised plan regarding the PA, which would take into account the recent political developments.

The formation of the unity government in the PA has complicated the U.S.'s long-term plans for the creation of a Palestinian security force under Abbas that would counterweigh forces under the control of Hamas. Rice said the administration was trying to find ways to support the development of forces loyal to those who accept the principals of the Quartet. She added the funds requested by the administration for aid for the PA would be reduced, due to concerns over how some funds would be spent.

Rice said she would make a new request to Congress outlining in detail how the money would be spent and providing assurances it would not get into the "wrong hands."

"It will request less money, precisely because some of the money that I would have requested I did not think I could fully account for," Rice told a House of Representatives Appropriations subcommittee.

She did not say how much money would be cut from the original request.

"I hope that is a sign for you that we take very seriously our responsibilities," she said. "I have no interest in having to come here one day and say, 'you know this funding did not end up in the right place.' I will do my very best," she told the committee

Congress sources told Haaretz Wednesday that under the new circumstances, forces under partial control of Hamas may receive American foreign aid. This would be in violation of the American constitution, as Hamas is classified as a terrorist organization. American lawmakers froze transfer of all aid funds to the PA several weeks ago, and it is at present unclear if and when it would be renewed.

U.S. Lieutenant-General Keith Dayton, U.S. security coordinator to the PA since 2005, warned Congress last week against Hamas' growing military strength.

If left unchecked, Dayton warned, it would erode Abbas' already limited ability to enforce any cease-fire in the Gaza Strip and increase the chances of Israeli military intervention.

Meanwhile, the Quartet of Middle East peace negotiators - the United States, the United Nations, the European Union and Russia - said Wednesday that an international aid embargo would remain on the PA until three conditions were met: to recognize Israel, agree to past accords and renounce violence.

"The Quartet expressed its expectation that the unity government would support the efforts of President Abbas to pursue a two-state solution to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict," the peacebrokers wrote in a statement.