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Source: http://www.nytimes.com/2006/02/15/international/middleeast/15diplo.html
U.S. and Israel Deny Plans to Drive Hamas from Power
(Xinhuanet-China) Steven R. Weisman - American and Israeli officials warned again Tuesday that they would cut off aid to a Hamas-led Palestinian government if it did not renounce violence and recognize Israel, but said they had no plans to oust such a government, as had been reported in the New York Times. "There is no U.S.-Israeli plan, project, plot, conspiracy to destabilize or undermine a future Palestinian government," said Sean McCormack, a State Department spokesman. (New York Times) "There's no plot," said White House spokesman Scott McClellan. "We have the same conversations with the government of Israel that we have with Arab governments and European governments and others." "There is a free and fair election that took place. The Palestinian people spoke very clearly," McClellan said. "Palestinian officials, for years, have recognized Israel's right to exist and worked in negotiation toward peace. If the Palestinians were to change that decade-old policy, then their relations with the international community would change as well," he said.