of arms and ammunition to fight Hamas. In the April 2008 edition of Vanity Fair it was revealed that after the 2006 elections Dahlan had been central in a US plot to remove the democratically elected Hamas-led government from power. The Americans provided money and arms to Dahlan, trained his men and ordered him to carry out a military coup against Hamas in the Gaza Strip. However, the elected Hamas government forestalled the move and itself carried out an armed counter-coup. Battle of Gaza In July 2007, Dahlan resigned from his post as national security adviser. The resignation was little more than a formality, since Mahmoud Abbas had issued a decree dissolving his national security council immediately after the Hamas takeover of Gaza. Dahlan has been blamed by many in Fatah for the rapid collapse of their forces in Gaza in the face of a Hamas offensive that lasted less than a week. During the fighting Dahlan's house on the coast of Gaza was seized by Hamas militants and subsequently demolished. He and most of the other senior security commanders of the Fatah-dominated Palestinian Authority security forces were not in Gaza during the fighting, leading to charges that their men had been abandoned in the field. Return to West Bank Shortly after his forces were expelled from Gaza, Dahlan re-established himself in the West Bank. Tensions grew between his supporters and opponents when Fatah leader and former Interior Minister Hani al-Hassan gave an interview on Al-Jazeera in which he said what happened in Gaza was not a war between Fatah and Hamas; but between Hamas and Fatah collaborators who served the Americans and the Israelis, making clear that he was referring to Dahlan's supporters. Representatives of Dahlan pressured Mahmoud Abbas to fire and punish Al-Hassan, while masked gunmen opened fire on his home in Ramallah. Al-Hassan accused Dahlan of planning to murder him, a charge which Dahlan denied. In October 2007 The Bush administration reportedly exerted heavy pressure on Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas to appoint Dahlan as his deputy. Some Fatah officials said that the US and some EU countries had made it clear they would like to see Dahlan succeed Abbas as head of the PA. In August 2009 Dahlan was elected to the Central Committee of Fatah. However the results were controversial, with Fatah suffering mass resignations over claims the elections were fraudulent. Allegation of murdering Yasser