Guns or Butter: Gaza Chooses Guns

There's a real civil war going on in Gaza, but the media is doing its best to avoid calling it such. Can't imagine why.

Hamas and Fatah are trying to fight over the scraps of whatever is left after more than a decade of Palestinian civil administrative self rule within Gaza and the West Bank. So, they got into yet another gunfight. And threw firebombs at each other.

Sounds like a civil war to me.

UPDATE:
Jonah Goldberg notes this AP story:

GAZA CITY, Gaza Strip - Violent clashes and mass protests erupted Saturday across the West Bank and Gaza Strip between followers of the militant group Hamas and Fatah rivals, after a Hamas leader accused Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas of treachery.

The two sides traded gunfire and hurled stones and firebombs, escalating a fierce power struggle between militant and moderate factions focused on control over Palestinian security forces.

Abbas said Saturday he would not allow the accusations to plunge the Palestinians into civil war.

That doesn't give Abbas many choices to avert a civil war. Either he exits stage left quickly, or his backers are forced to take action to protect themselves - and that means engaging Hamas in a battle that can and should be described as a civil war.