U.S. and Israel deny plot to overthrow new Hamas regime

JERUSALEM - Hamas protested "interference" by the United States and Israel following reports Tuesday that the nations were exploring ways to topple the militants' incoming government unless they renounced their violent ideology and recognized Israel's right to exist.\nIn Washington, the White House and the Israeli ambassador to the United States denied such a plot. The State Department said it was reviewing U.S. aid to the Palestinians and would make a decision within two weeks.\nExiled Hamas leader Khaled Mashaal said in Sudan his group had no plans to recognize Israel.\n"There will be no recognition of Israel and there will be no security for the occupation and colonization forces," Mashaal told a rally in Khartoum. "Resistance will remain our strategic option."\nThe New York Times, citing U.S. and Israeli officials it did not identify, reported Tuesday that the United States and Israel were considering a campaign to starve the Palestinian Authority of cash so Palestinians would grow disillusioned and bring down a Hamas government.\nIsraeli security officials said they were looking at ways to force Hamas from power and were focusing on an economic squeeze that would prompt Palestinians to clamor for the return of President Mahmoud Abbas' ousted Fatah Party. The officials spoke on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to discuss the matter with the media.\nA Foreign Ministry official said Israel was threatening to dry up funding and isolate the Palestinians internationally in an effort to keep Hamas, which is committed to Israel's destruction, from taking power.\nHowever, Israeli Ambassador to the United States Daniel Ayalon told The Associated Press that there were no ongoing plans with the U.S. to topple the Palestinian government. \n"There is no conspiracy between Israel and the United States to hurt the Palestinian people and there is no plan whatsoever to compromise the well-being of the Palestinian people," he said.\nA Hamas official protested the reports, saying attempts to bring down a future Hamas government were hypocritical.\n"This is ... a rejection of the democratic process, which the Americans are calling for day and night," incoming legislator Mushir al Masri said. "It's an interference and a collective punishment of our people because they practiced the democratic process in a transparent and honest way."\nIn Washington, White House spokesman Scott McClellan said, "There's no plot." State Department spokesman Sean McCormack said he was "puzzled" by the report.\n"We are not having conversations with the Israelis that we are not having with others, including the Quartet. There is no plan, there is no plot," he said.\nHe also reiterated the demands of the so-called Quartet of Mideast peace negotiators: that Hamas recognize Israel, renounce terror and accept past agreements reached by the Palestinians. The Quartet -- which includes the United States, United Nations, European Union and Russia -- backs the "road map" peace plan envisioning a Palestinian state side-by-side with Israel.\nHamas trounced Abbas' Fatah Party in legislative elections last month and is poised to form a new government in the coming weeks. Hamas swept to power on the strength of public dissatisfaction with Fatah's failure to eradicate lawlessness and corruption.\nAbbas, elected separately last year, will remain in office and has been taking steps in recent days to curb the power of the incoming Hamas legislature.\nMashaal, on a regional tour to generate support for Hamas, said the group still hopes to form a national coalition government with other Palestinian factions, including Fatah.\n"The world should commit Israel to withdraw from our territories and stop occupation and aggression and allow the Palestinian people to establish their independent state, with Jerusalem its capital," Marshaal said.\nAP Diplomatic Writer Barry Schweid in Washington contributed to this report.