CAIRO (Reuters) - Many Egyptians said Thursday that a conspiracy was behind the crash of EgyptAir Flight 990, with some blaming Israel because 33 Egyptian military officers were among the passengers killed.

Others said the U.S. was trying to cover up what really happened in order to evade responsibility.

They rejected suggestions that one of the crew members might have committed suicide, sending the plane nosediving into the Atlantic Ocean off the northeast U.S. coast and killing all 217 people on board on Oct. 31.

``We still have two options: the first is the invisible fingers of Israel, which has developed scientific potentials,'' wrote columnist Abbas Tarabili, chief editor of the opposition daily al-Wafd newspaper.

``The second is that America seems to wish to evade responsibility for the crime by holding EgyptAir's pilots responsible.''

In the weeks since the crash the Egyptian press has been full of conspiracy theories, ranging from plots by Israelis or other foreign agents to the existence of a secret ``no-fly'' area over a key U.S. base, from which missiles may have been fired, downing the plane.

Many have cited the presence of Egyptian military officers on the flight, a fact confirmed by the government, as a likely motive.

Media Say Conspiracy

Sayyed Abdel-Aati had an unsourced article in al-Wafd on Thursday headlined ``The Israeli Mossad (secret service) planned to blow up the plane to kill 33 Egyptian military officers.''

``Planting explosives on the Egyptian plane was an easy task in light of the presence of all the Israeli intelligence networks in the United States,'' he said.

U.S. investigators have released details supporting a theory that Flight 990's pilot and co-pilot were competing for control of the plane before it crashed into the ocean.

Working with the flight data and voice recorders, the investigators believe co-pilot Gameel al-Battouti took advantage of the captain's absence from the cockpit to send the Boeing 767 airliner into a steep dive.

Some local media and citizens questioned the intention of U.S. investigators, saying they had leaked part of their findings in order to cover up the real cause of the crash.

``The only explanation for this is that they wish to hold EgyptAir responsible,'' said Galal Doweidar, chief editor of the state-owned daily al-Akhbar.

He added that U.S. officials either wanted to evade responsibility for lax security measures or to protect Boeing Co., the U.S. plane's manufacturer.

Many Reject Suicide Theory

Mohamed Wagdy, manager of a Cairo shoe shop, said Egyptians ''were not so naive as to believe such a thing as the suicide theory.''

Gameela Ibrahim, a housewife, said she rejected the idea that it was suicide, arguing that mechanical failure or sabotage were much more likely.

American investigators said Tuesday they were holding off a decision on whether to turn their probe into a criminal investigation until more Egyptian experts, including translators, heard the cockpit recording.

Abdel-Fattah Kato, chairman of the Egyptian Civil Aviation Authority, and EgyptAir Operations Manager Captain Hassan Misharrafa have both left for New York in the past two days.

Jawad Fatayer, sociologist at American University in Cairo and a therapeutic counselor for people with depression, said he highly doubted Battouti had committed suicide.

``It is not likely,'' he said. ``He had no record of disturbances or dysfunctional behavior or depression. His personality profile does not match an act of suicide.''