Fighting chance

Middle East | The battle in Gaza is a humanitarian and security nightmare—and an opportunity for anti-Hamas Palestinians to start fresh | Jill Nelson

Life in Gaza has never been easy, and Abu Nada weathered the storms despite hostile gunfire and threatening text messages sent to his phone courtesy of Hamas. But when the militant group took over the coastal territory on June 14 and seized the Fatah-controlled television station where Nada was general manager, he had seen enough.

Without risking a trip home to pack his belongings, Nada joined the exodus of hundreds of Gazans seeking passage into Israel, traversing the back roads to avoid Hamas checkpoints and even crawling at times to reach the border. Thanks to contacts in Israel, Nada was able to cross. Others weren't as fortunate.

After five days of intense factional fighting and more than a year of attempting a coalition government, Hamas gained the upper hand over Fatah forces in Gaza, and two Palestinian mini-states emerged: Hamas now controls the Gaza Strip and the secular Fatah party rules the West Bank. In a move Hamas leaders called a coup, Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas promptly fired Prime Minister Ismail Haniyeh, and a new government was formed.