JERUSALEM, Aug 16 (Reuters) - Israel has arrested the Palestinian head of Al Jazeera's Afghanistan bureau after he visited the occupied West Bank, charging him with belonging to Hamas, the satellite station said on Tuesday.

It said Samer Alawai had been remanded by an Israeli military court a week after being taken into custody while trying to cross from the West Bank into Jordan. He had been visiting family in the Palestinian city of Nablus.

An Israeli security official confirmed Alawai's arrest and court appearance but gave no further details on the case.

Islamist Hamas won a Palestinian election in 2006 and, a year later, took over the Gaza Strip in a brief civil war with the formerly dominant and more secular Fatah faction.

Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas of Fatah holds sway in the West Bank, where his forces, along with the Israeli military, have curbed Hamas.

(Reporting by Dan Williams; Editing by Angus MacSwan)