Court releases on bail PA chair candidate

The Jerusalem Magistrate's Courts ordered on Friday evening the release on bail of Bassam al-Salhi, a PA chairman election candidate who was arretsed by police after a scuffle with Border police troops at a checkpoint near Jerusalem.

Witnesses said Border Police officers stopped Bassam al-Salhi, handcuffed him and took him away as he tried to cross A-Ram checkpoint into Jerusalem. Police scuffled with Salhi's aides when they tried to pull him free.

This marks a second incident to mar the campaign to elect a successor to Yasser Arafat.

A police spokesman said Salhi, a member of the communist People's Party faction inside the Palestine Liberation Organization, did not have a permit to enter Jerusalem.

"He was detained for questioning but he has not been arrested," the spokesman said.

Police said it intended to charge Salhi with police assault and attempted entry into Israel without permit.

Palestinians want Israel to ease its clampdown in the West Bank and Gaza Strip so candidates can move freely ahead of January 9 presidential elections. Wary of Palestinian militants waging a four-year-old revolt, Israel said it would try to cooperate.

Salhi is the second of nine presidential contenders to have been detained by Israeli security forces since the start of the campaign. Both are considered long shots.

On Wednesday, independent candidate Mustafa Barghouthi said troops beat and briefly detained him at a checkpoint outside the West Bank city of Jenin. The army said Barghouthi and his entourage had refused to submit to a routine car search.

	Border Police officers detaining Bassam al-Salhi, a candidate in the PA elections, at a checkpoint north of Jerusalem on Friday. (AP)