U.S. lawmakers: Egypt aid may hinge on Gaza border

Palestinian security forces loyal to Hamas patrol near the border between Egypt and the southern Gaza strip, September 30, 2007. Two U.S. lawmakers said on Wednesday that the United States could make financial aid to Egypt conditional on Cairo doing more to prevent smuggling of arms into the Hamas-controlled Gaza Strip.

JERUSALEM (Reuters) - Two U.S. lawmakers said on Wednesday that the United States could make financial aid to Egypt conditional on Cairo doing more to prevent smuggling of arms into the Hamas-controlled Gaza Strip.

The two U.S. lawmakers -- Republican Senator Arlen Specter of Pennsylvania and Democratic Representative Patrick Kennedy of Rhode Island -- both sit on the powerful appropriations committees that control U.S. foreign aid spending.

"It's an intolerable situation for Egypt to be complicitous in letting arms be smuggled to Hamas. They (Egypt) get a lot of U.S. largesse, a lot of U.S. money, $2 billion a year," Specter told reporters in Jerusalem.

"Egypt can do a lot more and if they don't, I think it would be appropriate to condition aid to them on that factor," Specter said. "We intend to take it up with the Egyptian officials."

(Reporting by Adam Entous; Editing by Myra MacDonald)