hamas has apparently seized fatah's security headquarters in gaza. the question that isn't coming up in the news coverage is why fatah had its own security headquarters to begin with.
in 2006, fatah lost an election to hamas and hamas became the elected government of the palestinian authority. normally when there is a change of power, the new government takes control of the security forces. and normally when the outgoing party refuses to give up its control of the security forces, the world calls that what it is: a refusal to honor the democratic process and an effective coup.
but that's not what happened. hamas demanded fatah give up control of security forces, but fatah refused. and because the world likes fatah more than hamas (for good reason IMHO), there was no outcry about fatah's anti-democratic move.
fatah's refusal last year is not the only reason for the brewing palestinian civil war, but it certainly was a major factor in getting to where we are today. and it's hard to see the statement of fatah spokesperson tawfiq abu khoussa as anything but ironic: "Hamas is seeking a military coup against the Palestinian Authority."
hamas is the ruling party of the palestinian authority. it can't hold a coup to take over something it already won via popular election. the only reason a nonsensical statement like that can be taken seriously is because the world still won't accept the results of last year's election.
