Israeli soldiers have arrested a member of the new Hamas-led Palestinian cabinet at a roadblock on the outskirts of Jerusalem, Hamas sources said.
Israel Radio said Khaled Abu Arafa, an independent who serves as minister of state for Jerusalem affairs, was detained because, as a resident of Arab East Jerusalem, he is banned by Israel from entering areas in the West Bank administered by the Palestinian Authority.
Mr Abu Arafa was stopped at an roadblock that Israeli soldiers positioned in the occupied territory, north of Jerusalem, Hamas sources said.
"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," one of the sources said.
Mr Abu Arafa was on the way to the office of former Palestinian minister Ziad Abu Ziad for a handover ceremony and was taken by soldiers to an unknown location, the sources said.
Hamas, sworn to Israel's destruction, held its first cabinet yesterday following its victory in the January 25th Palestinian election.
Israel says it cannot consider dealing with Hamas until the Islamic group recognizes the Jewish state, renounces violence and accepts prior interim Israeli-Palestinian peace accords.
Israel captured East Jerusalem in the 1967 Middle East war and annexed it in a move that was not recognized internationally. Palestinians want East Jerusalem as the capital of the state they hope to establish in the West Bank and Gaza.