Last update - 00:00 05/02/2008
Gov't shuts down E. J'lem religious center, calls it Hamas front
By The Associated Press
Israel has shut down a religious and educational center in East Jerusalem, saying Tuesday it served as a front for the violently anti-Israel Islamic Hamas group.
According to a police statement Tuesday, the Education Club in the Zur Baher village is run by Hamas activists, financed by the Islamic group, and actively recruits people to its ranks.
Hussein Abu Hamed, director of the center, called the accusations baseless.
"We are not connected to any Palestinian faction, and we don't represent any Palestinian faction," Abu Hamed said.
The center, established in early 2000, went to court on Tuesday to try to overturn the shutdown, which took place Monday night, he said.
Hamas has killed more than 250 Israelis in suicide bombings, rejects Israel's right to exist and is involved in rocket and mortar attacks on Israel from the Hamas-ruled Gaza Strip.
Israel considers Hamas to be a terrorist group, and it is not allowed to operate on Israeli territory. Israel annexed East Jerusalem after capturing it in the 1967 Six-Day War and views it as part of sovereign Israel, though the international community does not.
Palestinians claim East Jerusalem as capital of a future state.
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