Israelis Arrest Palestinian Minister at Border

Israeli forces arrested a Palestinian cabinet minister as he tried to enter the West Bank from Jerusalem yesterday, the first time Israel has directly interfered with the new government. Khaled Abu Arafa, the Jerusalem affairs minister, was detained at a checkpoint at Izzariya with his bodyguard as he travelled to his office.

The Israeli army said Mr Abu Arafa was arrested because Israeli citizens and Palestinian residents of East Jerusalem are not allowed to travel to areas of the West Bank controlled by the Palestinian Authority. But in practice, Palestinians from East Jerusalem freely enter PA-controlled areas such as Ramallah and Bethlehem.

Israel annexed most of East Jerusalem after taking it from Jordan in 1967. However some parts, such as Izzariya, were not annexed and were made the responsibility of the Palestinian Authority as part of the 1994 Oslo agreements.

Mr Abu Arafa, who was released after five hours, said he had refused to leave his car voluntarily and police forced him out and handcuffed him. He was held in a shipping container and then moved to a police station in the West Bank settlement of Maale Adumim.

"Nobody asked me even one question. The entire time they treated me roughly," Mr Abu Arafa said. "This is an attempt by the Israeli government to topple the new Palestinian government and prevent us from providing services for our people. They insist on creating a tense situation ... and getting us back to square one."

In a separate development yesterday, the new Palestinian prime minister, Ismail Haniyeh, criticised attempts by Mahmoud Abbas, the Palestinian president, to restrict the powers of the Hamas government by appointing an ally to head the security services and asserting his control over border crossings.

Mr Abbas's appointment of Rashid Abu Shbak as the head of internal security contradicts earlier pledges to allow Hamas the tools of government. Sources at the president's office said Mr Abbas felt compelled to take control of the border crossings to ensure that European monitors remained at the Rafah crossing between Gaza and Egypt.

The appointment of Mr Abu Shbak leaves the control of Palestinian security forces in a confused state. He is theoretically under the direction of the Hamas-controlled interior ministry, but in practice he would answer to Mr Abbas.