HAMAS BEGINS SECOND COUP. That sure didn't take long. From Spiegel Online:

A building formerly occupied by Fatah's intelligence service in Gaza was long notorious for torture and execution. Now Hamas is in control -- and is letting former inmates visit the chamber of horrors.

...Eyewitnesses last Thursday reported that the Fatah members who were defending the building were shot in the head, one after another, when, with their shirts removed and their hands held above their heads, they had attempted to surrender. "We didn't kill a single one of them," counters Abu Mohammed ["an officer in Hamas's militant al-Qassam Brigades"]. "That would be un-Islamic."

Abu Mohammed, who is wearing blue Hamas camouflage, is all smiles. "Look," he says. "When Hamas calls upon people to return stolen goods the people comply -- voluntarily, no less."

And what is better for Gaza, now that Hamas is in charge? "That you, as a foreign journalist, can sit here without being kidnapped," says the militia leader, smiling thinly. "There is security in Gaza now, even for Fatah's people."

Hamas, says Mohammed, has released all of the captured enemies -- "except for a few dozen with blood on their hands" -- and guarantees their safety. "We now have law and order."

Hamas knows their journalists--and journalists know their place.
You thought Hamas taking over Gaza was a coup?

We are now watching the beginnings of a far larger one.

[Hat tip: Instapundit]

Technorati Tag: Israel and Hamas and Gaza.