U.S. denies Hamas plot

WASHINGOTN, D.C., March 4 (UPI) -- The United States did not secretly try to eject Hamas from power after the radical Palestinian group won 2006 elections, the Bush administration said Tuesday.

Claims of a covert U.S. attempt to oust Hamas surfaced in an article in Vanity Fair. The magazine reported it had learned from confidential documents and former administration officials that the Bush administration, including the president and Secretary of State Condoleeza Rice, had decided to arm the Fatah movement in an attempt to drive Hamas out of power. However, the Fatah forces "inadvertently provoked" Hamas, which then seized control of Gaza, Vanity Fair said.

But the State Department said Hamas is to blame for the fighting that broke out among Palestinians after the elections, the Voice of America reported.

State Department deputy spokesman Tom Casey said the administration was forbidden by law from furnishing arms.

"The story alleges that there was some kind of secret plot on the part of the U.S. government to create an internal conflict within the Palestinians, specifically an armed conflict," Casey said. "That's absurd. That's ridiculous."