Palestinian J'lem governor freed after brief detention

The Israeli authorities on Wednesday released Adnan Ghaith, Jerusalem's Palestinian governor, after holding him for several hours, according to local media reports.

A Jerusalem court has ruled to release Ghaith, who was detained earlier Wednesday alongside 20 other Palestinians, including prominent lawyer Medhat Dibeh.

The reason for the raft of detentions remains unclear.

According to one source who attended the court session, implementation of the release order was briefly suspended "to give Israeli intelligence a chance to appeal the decision".

"If the intelligence apparatus doesn't challenge the ruling, he'll be released," the source, who spoke anonymously due to restrictions on talking to media, said.