OCCUPIED JERUSALEM, April 6, 2006 (IslamOnline.net & News Agencies) – Israeli occupation authorities detained on Thursday, April 6, Palestinian Minister for Al-Quds (occupied East Jerusalem) Affairs Khaled Abu Arafa and his bodyguard, drawing immediate rebuke from the Palestinian government.
"They stopped the car and asked the minister to get out and when he refused they forced him by pointing the rifle in his face," a Palestinian source told Reuters.
Abu Arafa, who was stopped at an impromptu Israel roadblock, was on his way to the office of predecessor Ziad Abu Ziad in Azzariyeh, close to the eastern part of the occupied holy city, for a handover ceremony.
Israeli security sources confirmed the arrest of the Palestinian minister, reported the Israeli daily Haaretz on its website.
They said Abu Arafa, a resident of Al-Quds village of Abu Dis, was detained for trying to enter a Palestinian territory with his Israeli ID card.
Holders of Israeli IDs are banned by Israeli laws from entering the West Bank and Gaza Strip.
The Palestinian minister was released hours later.
Israel captured Al-Quds in 1967 and later annexed the city in a move not recognized by the world community or UN resolutions.
Palestinians maintain that the holy city will be the capital of their future independent state.
Obstacles
Palestinian cabinet spokesman Ghazi Hamad accused Israel of undermining the work of the new government.
"The arrest of a cabinet minister proves the falseness of Israel's arguments that it seeks peace."
Abu Ziad said members of Abu Arafa's entourage informed him of the minister's detention.
He said he had been scheduled to meet the new minister to hand over supplies that belong to the Palestinian Authority.
Israel has refused any dealings with the new Hamas-led Palestinian government and has frozen the monthly transfers of tax revenues it collects on behalf of the PA, worth around $50 million.
A few hours after the government was sworn in on March 29, the US ordered its diplomats and contractors to cut off contacts with the new ministers while Canada decided to suspend aid and contacts with the Palestinian Authority.
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