JERUSALEM: Israel ordered the last minute cancellation on Friday of a dinner Palestinian prime minister Salam Fayyad had planned to hold with foreign diplomats in annexed Arab east Jerusalem, both sides said.

Israeli Internal Security Minister Yitzhak Aharonovitch imposed the ban just hours before the iftar dinner marking the end of the daytime fast observed by Muslims during Ramadan was due to be held, the Palestinian governor of Jerusalem, Adnan Al-Husseini told AFP.

"They told me of the decision by telephone and informed the hotel in writing," he said.

Several foreign diplomats as well as religious dignitaries had planned to attend the event, together with Fayyad and Husseini.

Jerusalem police spokesman Shmulik Ben-Rubi confirmed the meal had been banned.

"Any event of a political character held by the Palestinian Authority is prohibited in Jerusalem," he told AFP.