Israeli police today detained the Palestinian Authority's minister for Jerusalem affairs.It was the first time Israel had arrested a member of the Hamas-led government since it first sat last week.
Khaled Abu Arafa and his bodyguard were taken into custody at a checkpoint on their way into Izzariya, a suburb of Jerusalem within the Palestinian-controlled West Bank.
Israel Radio said the 45-year-old politician had been arrested because, as a resident of Israeli-controlled Arab East Jerusalem, he is banned from entering the West Bank carrying an Israeli identity card.
Mr Arafa is a cabinet member of the Hamas-led government, but stood as an independent in January's elections...
Ahmed Jalajel, a photographer for the Al-Quds daily newspaper who was with Mr Arafa at the time, told the Associated Press: "They asked us for ID, they said: 'Get out.' He said: 'I am not getting out.' They opened the car and pushed him out.
"They asked him to sit down on the ground, and then they checked the IDs. They asked him to get into their jeep. He refused, then they pushed him into the jeep."
You may not like their government- heck I don't like theirs, or Bush's or Iran's- but if you treat people like this they get pissed off. It's like the law of gravity. Especially when they're, you know, democratically elected, 'cause it gives them something moral to rally 'round.
Of course, on the other hand, Hamas does want to ban belly-dancing.
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