When is a Civil War Not One?

When the media in all their infinite wisdom decide to not call it one:

GAZA CITY, Gaza Strip (AP) - Fighting between Hamas and Fatah escalated Sunday, as the foreign minister's convoy and the president's Gaza residence came under attack. Prime Minister Ismail Haniyeh said Hamas will boycott an early election called by the president.

Hamas Foreign Minister Mahmoud Zahar escaped unharmed. President Mahmoud Abbas was in the West Bank at the time of the attack on his Gaza residence.

Gunmen also attacked a training base of security forces allied with Abbas on Sunday, killing a member of the elite force. The attacks came one day after Abbas announced he would end nine months of Hamas rule by calling early elections.

Hamas and Fatah are in a civil war by any measure. The elected government of Hamas has done nothing to move the Palestinian cause forward and everything to move it back. This situation is at the point that a full-blown war is nearly imminent. The Foreign Minister's convoy and the President's house were attacked. That is not just normal violence, that is violence to attain political ends.

I'm awaiting Matt Lauer's words calling the situation what it is; a civil war.