Abdelraouf Arnaout and Qais Abu Samra
03 April 2020•Update: 04 April 2020
JERUSALEM / RAMALLAH, Palestine
The Palestinian Authority’s Jerusalem Affairs Minister Fadi al-Hadami was arrested by Israeli police on Friday.
The Jerusalem Affairs Ministry said in a statement that Israeli police raided the minister's house in Suwana neighbourhood of Jerusalem and took him into custody.
It said the police broke down doors and smashed windows of the minister’s house.
An unspecified amount of money was also seized before the minister was taken away to an interrogation center.
The Israeli police have yet to give any details on the arrest of al-Hadami, who has previously been arrested three times by Israeli security forces.
The Palestinian Authority says such arrests of Palestinian officials in occupied East Jerusalem are related to their activities in the city.
Palestinian Prime Minister Muhammad Shtayyeh called for al-Hadami’s immediate release.
"Israel targets who work for #Jerusalem, even at such critical moments as we work to save our people's lives from #COVID19. This morning, its occupying forces arrested the Minister of Jerusalem Affairs, Fadi Al-Hidmi, after raiding his house. We demand his immediate release," he said in a tweet on Friday.
International law views both the West Bank and East Jerusalem as occupied territories, and considers all Jewish settlement-building activity there illegal.
*Writing by Zehra Nur Duz, Ahmed Asmar contributed to this report from Ankara
