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Israel arrests Hamas cabinet minister
(AP)
Updated: 2006-04-06 14:59
Israeli police on Thursday arrested a minister in the Palestinians' new
Hamas-led government, a Hamas official said.
Palestinian women's
affairs minister, Dr. Mariam Saleh, left, and other ministers of Hamas
attend the first Cabinet meeting of the Islamic group Hamas at the West
Bank city of Ramallah Wednesday April 5, 2006. The Palestinian Authority's
coffers are empty and the new government is struggling to find money to
pay tens of thousands of its employees, new Palestinian Prime Minister
Ismail Haniyeh told his Hamas-led Cabinet. [AP] |
Khaled Abu Arafa, minister of Jerusalem affairs, was arrested along with his
bodyguard on his way to Izzariya, a suburb near Jerusalem, where he was planning
to open an office, the official said on condition of anonymity because he feared
Israeli retribution.
Further details of the arrest were not immediately available.
However, it appears Abu Arafa may have been arrested for trying to open the
office. Part of Izzariya is in Jerusalem, and Hamas is prohibited by Israeli law
from opening offices in the city.
Israeli police did not immediately comment.
Abu Arafa has been detained several times by Israel in the
past.
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