Hamas Cabinet member detained by Israelis
The move came the same day as Israeli president Moshe Katsav formally chose acting prime minister Ehud Olmert to form Israel's next government. Mr Olmert said he would work quickly to put together a coalition that was committed to carrying out his West Bank withdrawal plan.
Hamas member Khaled Abu Arafa, minister of Jerusalem affairs, was detained with his bodyguard when he was on his way to Izzariya, a West Bank suburb of Jerusalem.
Abu Arafa, who lives in Jerusalem, was to take possession of furniture and office equipment from his predecessor, Ziad Abu Zayyad, a moderate.
Abu Arafa was detained because he is barred from entering the West Bank for security reasons, the army said. He was not interrogated because his intentions were clear, the army added.
Abu Arafa said he was taken to a shipping container where he sat for several hours before being moved to a police station in the West Bank settlement of Maale Adumim.
It had appeared that Israel was trying to prevent Abu Arafa from assuming his duties in the ministry office in Izzariya. Part of Izzariya is in Jerusalem , which is at the centre of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. Israel claims the entire city as its capital, while the Palestinians want the eastern half for the capital of a future state.
Meanwhile, Mr Olmert said his plan to pull out of much of the West Bank and draw Israel's borders by 2010 would be "the basis" of his government's operations.
"These plans will be the basis of the government's operations," he said. "I believe this is also known to all the potential partners and there is no doubt we will act in this way."
Katsav said 78 members of Israel's 120-member Knesset recommended that Olmert be chosen as the next prime minister. Olmert's centrist Kadima Party won 29 seats in last week's parliamentary elections, the most of any party.
Katsav, Israel's ceremonial president, said that he wanted Olmert to form a broad coalition.
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