Ajax returns & instead of &, Any ideas?

Ajax returns & instead of &, Any ideas?

First off Hello to the community, first time posting here

I've used the jQuery ajax code to return some HTML for a page. The HTML contains links with query strings on them,
?key=value&key=value
etc etc

However when the html is returned to the page the link href becomes
?key=value&key=value

Now as far as clicking, this isn't an issue, but the links href is used for a lightbox plugin, which doesn't work if there is an & only if its &.

Just wondered if any one could help.

jQuery code:
$.fn.loadTools = function(){
      var memberID = 1847; // testing purposes only.  this will need to be pulled in from the session/login         
      var params = [
         {name: 'status', value: 'pageLoad'},
         {name: 'memberID', value: memberID}
      ];
      $.ajax({
         type: 'POST',
         url: 'lib/ajax/main.php',
         data: params,
         success: function(html){
            $('#button-bar').html(html);
         }
      });      
   };


main.php output:
//---snip
<div class="button" id="addeventBtn"><!-- Adding -->
            <a href="index.php?action=page1&page=adding&KeepThis=true&TB_iframe=true&height=300&width=600&modal=true" class="thickbox">
            <img src="images/add.png" border="0" height="16" width="16" alt="Add Event" onmouseover="Tip('Add a new event to My Social Calendar');" onmouseout="UnTip();" />
            </a>   
            </div>
//---snip


main.html page:
<div id="msc-container">
    <div id="title-bar">My Social Calendar</div>
    <div id="button-bar">
   
    </div>
    <div id="eventsContainer">
   
    </div>
</div>