Today's PalArab news roundup 6-30-09

A 'breakthrough" was announced in the Hamas/Fatah negotiations.

But even as that was happening, Hamas arrested some 150 Fatah members in Gaza. And the PA arrested seven more Hamas members in the West Bank.

Even more bizarrely, the PA announced that they foiled a Hamas plot to assassinate senior PA officials, apparently to torpedo these very Fatah/Hamas negotiations. It is possible that Hamas has some infighting going on, of that the Damascus leadership is trying to stop the Gaza leadership from compromising with Fatah.

Eight other Palestinian Arab factions including the PFLP and DFLP announced that they would not be bound by any Hamas/Fatah agreement. They are particularly upset over the reported provision that any new elections would not count votes for parties that receive less than 5.1% of the vote.

Meanwhile, Hamas arrested and allegedly tortured members of the Hizb ut-Tahrir Islamist group in Gaza.