Israeli soldiers arrested on Thursday a cabinet minister from the new Hamas-led Palestinian government. According to officials, Khaled Abu Arafa, minister of Jerusalem affairs, was taken into custody, along with his bodyguard on his way to Izzariya, a suburb near Jerusalem, where he planned on opening an office.

Abu Arafa was stopped at a roadblock set by Israeli soldiers and is held 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.

Further details about the arrest have not been issued, but some say that the official may have been arrested for trying to open the office, Israeli law forbidding Hamas from opening offices in the city. Abu Arafa, who has been detained several times in the past, became minister last week after the militant group won the Palestinian elections.

The East side of Jerusalem is considered to be the core of the Israeli Palestinian conflict. Most residents are Palestinians and many hope that the area will be their future capital. Still, Israel says Jerusalem, which has been occupied since 1967, is indivisible. East Jerusalem was annexed in 1981, but the area is not recognized internationally.