by Efrat Forsher
Police order Islamic Movement leader Raed Salah's arrest for incitement, 10 days after making a speech declaring that Israeli police intended to torch Temple Mount • Court issues restraining order to keep Salah out of Jerusalem.
The head of the Islamic
Movement's northern branch, Sheikh Raed Salah [Archive]
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Photo credit: Israel Police  |
Hours before Israel sits down to celebrate
Rosh Hashana, hundreds of Muslim worshippers began throwing rocks at
police officers and Jewish visitors at Jerusalem's Temple Mount on
Wednesday morning. A large police force was summoned to the scene to
calm the situation, and no injuries or damage were reported.
The officers managed to subdue the rioters,
some of whom were wearing face masks. Many fled into nearby mosques when
the police arrived. A large police presence remained on site, and entry
to the Temple Mount was not restricted.
Police sources said that they were not
surprised by the violence and that police had advance knowledge of plans
to riot on the Temple Mount. Police Commissioner Yohanan Danino said he
planned to closely monitor the deployment of police units in the area
over the course of the holiday.
The rock-throwing incident occurred one day
after the head the northern chapter of the Islamic Movement, Sheikh Raed
Salah, was arrested on his way to a press conference in east Jerusalem.
Police suspect that Salah meant to incite his followers to instigate
violent clashes on the Temple Mount during the Jewish holiday.
The Muslim cleric was reportedly traveling to a
press conference called "Toward the Spring of Jerusalem and Al-Aqsa" in
the Wadi al-Joz neighborhood of east Jerusalem when police arrested
him, a spokesman for the Islamic Movement, attorney Zaahi Nejidat, told
Al-Jazeera.
Police brought Salah to the Russian Compound in Jerusalem for questioning.
Salah's arrest was apparently in response to a
speech the sheikh gave at Kafr Qara near Haifa. The outspoken cleric
had accused Israel of being behind the recent political crisis in Egypt
and throughout the Arab world. He also said the Jerusalem police force
planned to torch the Temple Mount during the High Holy Days.
That last comment may have been in response to
a police announcement that Jews would be allowed to enter the Temple
Mount, managed by the Islamic Waqf, over Rosh Hashana and Yom Kippur.
A Jerusalem court on Tuesday filed a
restraining order against Salah, ordering him to stay more than 30
kilometers (19 miles) from Jerusalem. Salah refused, and was kept in
custody overnight, but was released early Wedensday after accepting the
terms of the order.
Salah has been arrested before. In 2011, police arrested
him for apparently assaulting officers near the Allenby Bridge border
crossing between Israel and Jordan. In 2009, he was arrested for making
inflammatory remarks and apparent incitement during clashes between
police and Palestinian activists in Wadi al-Joz in Jerusalem.
Efrat Forsher
Source: http://www.israelhayom.com/site/newsletter_article.php?id=11823
Copyright - Original materials copyright (c) by the authors.
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