Israel bans Islamic Movement head Salah from Jerusalem
Head of Israeli Arab movement's northern chapter briefly arrested on charges of incitement to violence.
By Jack Khoury, Liel Kyzer and Barak Ravid Tags: Jerusalem Islam Israel news Temple MountThe Jerusalem Magistrate's Court on Tuesday ordered the release of one of the leaders of the Israeli Arab Islamic Movement, but restricted him from entering Jerusalem for 30 days.
Ra'ad Salah, the leader of the movement's northern chapter, was arrested earlier Tuesday on suspicion that he had incited to violence and incited riots, in light of remarks he had made recently.
The arrest came against the backdrop of heightened tension in Jerusalem's Old City and particularly at the holy site of Temple Mount, where Palestinians clashed with Israeli police officers over the course of several days.
On Monday, Salah told Haaretz that the clashes would last as long as Israel's "occupation" of the city and Al-Aqsa Mosque continued. He said the Israeli government must understand that using force does not grant it rights to Al-Aqsa Mosque or anywhere else in East Jerusalem, and that the key to achieving calm in the area is an Israeli "withdrawal."
"No one has rights to the Al-Aqsa Mosque other than the Muslims. The mosque compound is Muslim, Palestinian and Arab, and Israel has no rights to the mosque or East Jerusalem," he said.
Salah has been prohibited from entering the Temple Mount area for several months, and has been staying at a nearby residence while following developments. The Islamic Movement leader reiterated his call for Arabs within Israel's Green Line and in Jerusalem to protest beside the mount to "protect Al-Aqsa from the infiltration of extremist Jewish elements."
The arrest sparked outrage among Israeli Arab lawmakers, who called the move a politically motivated provocation. MK Taleb a-Sana (Raam-Taal) said that the decision to arrest Salah did nothing but exacerbate an already volatile situation. "I blame the police and its heads for the developments at al-Aqsa," he said.
"The arrest attests to the loss of sanity among the captains of the police, and their capitulation to political pressure," he continued. "The police chief must retain his composure and act responsibly and carefully, even during times of stress."
Following his arrest, the police issued a statement saying that it will continue to work tirelessly to preserve the freedom to practice any religion, and that it was operating on the basis of equality and maintaining the law and preventing extremists from harming Jerusalem's daily life.
Earlier Tuesday, the Islamic Movement vowed to continue its mandate of representing Muslims within Israel's borders, despite calls from several ministers to outlaw the organization.
Vice Premier Silvan Shalom was the first minister to make the call, accusing the movement of provoking the masses into violence. Salah and his deputy Kamel Hatib should both be arrested, Shalom told Israel Radio.
In response to the comments, a spokesman for the Islamic Movement said: "Those trying to take control of the Al-Aqsa Mosque need self-reflection... The Islamic Movement gets its legitimacy from its many supporters within the Green Line, and not from the Israeli establishment and people like Silvan Shalom."
The spokesman told Haaretz that the movement's leaders were not afraid of arrest, regardless of threats.
"We are a movement with deep roots and will continue to do our work and relay our messages," he said.
In his comments to Israel Radio, Shalom also blamed the Palestinian Authority for the recent flare ups, claiming it was trying to place East Jerusalem under its own jurisdiction.
"We must be decisive and act with a firm hand, or they will identify our weakness and intensify their actions," said Shalom.
Echoing Shalom's sentiment, National Infrastructure Minister Uzi Landau said on Monday that "Israel should stop paying the salaries of imams and mosque heads that incite against it."
Landau urged the government to hold a special session dealing with ending PA activities in Jerusalem, as well as act toward banishing its instructions from the capital.
"The incitement that encourages the stabbing of soldiers, the hurling of stones and disorderly conduct in general must be stopped," Landau said.
Deputy Prime Minister and Interior Minister Eli Yishai, also relating to alleged PA involvement in recent Jerusalem clashes, said that "the State of Israel is the only authority in Jerusalem and no force can qualify that."
"The anti-Jewish incitement coming from within Israel's borders and abroad cannot loosen the tie between the people of Israel and its capital and the need to secure and strengthen it," Yishai added.
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Who not go and set the example, you miserable excuse for a human being? You have the same problem Capt. Queeg had, loose marbles in your overhead
Are telling others how to react to violence Seems those with the loudest voices are the most remote from the scene and reality Show us how it's done, go to the Wall, say a prayer in any Language or to any deity, then take your chance that a stone won't hit you
Go to the wall, as many Christian's do, place a piece of paper in one of the niches, take a chance that a rock won't hit you It's high time you observed something personally, instead of relying on second hand information A Maka B'Rosh will do you some good
Palestinians, from the secular to the Islamist need to learn that they will gain nothing through incitement or violence. When they incite; arrest them. When they attack, retaliate twice as hard. It`s about time!- Brant Your post begs the question, why are you here and not there to show you have the balls to back up your bullshit? It is easy to see that your bravery and bellicose shouting is made possible by the distance from your real homeland. Much easier over here behind a flag of convenience and protected by non Jews. I have nop doubt how fast your spine would turn to jelly if faced with an angry Arab on equal terms.
It should read; Israel should ban Islamic Movement head Salah and Islam all-together, And so should the rest of the true world if it wants real peace in the ME and the Rest of the planet....... No Islam No WARS....
Arrest and deport. He will be happier in Gaza. Jerusalem will be at peace.
Salah is demented. Yes, he is passionate. Yes he believes what he says but he is demented & ignorant. The Jews were there first and their temple was there first and there were Jews in Jerusalem on a continuous basis since before the time of David. Just because the conquest occured many centuries ago doesn't diminish that it was a conquest & occupation. And similarly just because the ruling power at the time the conqest were not the occupied Jews doesn't diminish the status of Jews as the first peoples in the area. This is much like the English conquering the French and Spanish in North America and not respecting the right of First Nations (who may have had predecessors). The Arabs were like the Spanish colonialist in South America. They built their places of worship purposely on top of the places of worship of others. Now they complain when those others wish to worship in their traditional places. This is simply unacceptable and the height of hypocrisy. Nothing new though.
Ra'ad Salah, is released but banned from Jerusalem for 30 days. A prudent move I suspect. He is no longer able to access the nexus of turmoil, and no longer an imprisoned 'martyr.' The fact that Israel has tried very hard to be most decent about the Al-Aqsa Mosque and the Temple Mount seems to not register with Salah. But then is he really interested in decency? Or is he simply an enraged bigot out to make trouble? I know what he seems, and it is the latter. Then we have Silvan Shalom, what an ironic last name, and Uzi Landau, as eager as Salah to instigate, enrage, and profit from disorder. What about Eli Yishai, thrashing the dead horse PA, and not even thinking that the only alternative, the one he is aiding, is Hamas. Where are the keepers, the people sane enough to rule? Why are the mendacious inmates running the asylum?
This man Salah has caused violence for way too long and it time Israel acts responsibly and keeps this dangerous man in prison.
Are only Israeli politicians allowed to be thugs?????? hahahahahahahahah. He is not a thug. He is fighting to get his land back.
What I can't understand with most of you here posting is why is there a double standard, unless that you think your better than everybody else in the world. When extremist settlers harass innocent pals everyday in the westbank, none of them get thrown in jail. When you can believe that everybody is equal is when you will be able to have peace, until then stop putting the blame on everybody else but yourself. The biggest problem the world has is the israeli goverment who doesn't want peace and the whole world knows it. Peace to the world.
Israel does not require the permission of Salah or his supporters, Palestinian or Western, to breath.
conspiracy. Raed rants - its Netanyahu's fault. Muslims bring wagon loads of bricks and concrete to throw on Jewish worshippers - its Lieberman's fault. Police arrest the leader of a riot - its their fault for not getting better orders. Funny how when such disturbances occur in other nations, you don't get such hand wringing and questions.
Israel is lighting matches in the hope of sparking a fire, deliberately escalating tensions in occupied East Jerusalem rather than taking steps to placate the situation
Palestinians, from the secular to the Islamist need to learn that they will gain nothing through incitement or violence. When they incite; arrest them. When they attack, retaliate twice as hard. It's about time!
But when Lieberman called for the killing of Arab members of Knesset who meet with members of the Hamas-led Palestinian Authority (May 2006) what happened... was he given a merit badge perhaps!
__ " We must be decisive and act with a firm hand"-- we have heard this blah-blah-blah before, many times.Thank you Mr.Uzi Landau for telling the Israeli people that our 'generous' Govt. is paying the salaries of imams and mosque heads.This is the most, one of the most irrational,idiotic, stupid endeavor made ;we might as well put Haniyeh, Nasrallah,bin laden and others on OUR payroll.If a shortage of funds develops, we always can dig into the needy's allocations,or the Shoah's survival funds,or the food for the needy, etc.. I am sick over it. An irate citizen.
do you know that before your Mosque our Temple was there? so jewish religious people like your religious fanatic, have the right to pray there don't you think so? They do not own the place they just go to pray. Is there anything wrong? They are not violent they just go to pray. Temple Mount is holy to both. remember.
i really want to know why this stupid website wont post anything i say but yet they allow all this hate towards arab on the talk back isnt this supposed to be a liberal newspape??
Good grief, that Ra'ad guy has really got his panties in a bunch this time!
1. He is Israel - where would you deport him? 2. Why are settler and Haredim leaders not arrested when they incite their populations. 3. No religious people should be paid by the government, especially ones who incite for riots. Or for that matter, ones who incite for the expulsion of a portion of the Israeli population.
The police no doubt think they are doing the best they can. But has anyone considered that their action is just the 'incitement' he intended as he virtually begged to be arrested? I know the police are in a damned if they do, damned if they don't position. The problem seems to be at a higher level in the government. A government which does not know what it is trying to accomplish, or how to go about it. Ra'ad Salah has a solid, if unwitting ally in Netanyahu and Lieberman.
This is a big mistake it shall spark the LPG
must be declared to arabs and if not heeded then crushing blow must be delivered to show that Jerusalem is the Capital of Israel(bible readily available to muslims to confirm my statement). When outsiders(arabs) terrorizing Jews in their own Capital something is wrong with that picture..and steps to correct it must be undertaken
Why are they almost begging to be arrested?
reason to expel all who side with the instigators. At no time in history before the creation of Israel have the Palestinian population been so rebellious and raucous towards the rulers of the land. All this self imposed suffering for the sake of what? Because the rulers of their land are not Muslims? Yet somehow the very people whose religious scholars and teachers inspired Islam, the people who worshiped G-d for thousands of years before their Prophet, are treated historically as second class citizens and ridiculed by the Muslim and Arab majority. Maybe just maybe the Jerusalem Arabs have too many rights and require more restriction, since restriction and imposition of individual is the nature of their culture.
Where does Jerusalem fit into Islam and Muslim history? Ask any Muslim to explain Jerusalem's religious significance to Islam and he will look blank and remain silent. It is not the place to which they pray, is not once mentioned by name in prayers, and it is connected to no mundane events in Muhammad's life. The city never served as capital of a sovereign Muslim state, and it never became a cultural or scholarly center.
Only the actual arrests will stop them for sure, the threats are only words. Go and arrest them. Kill those who resist the arrest.
Israel is being pressured to make concessions for the peace process. Israel needs this violence and resistance in order to clamp down and put any ideas of peace and harmony on the back burner. The Jews are crafty and deceitful and determined enlarge their holdings and to ethnically cleanse them.
Ora any group that blesses the war crimes comitted in Gaza or Lebanon. Goose and Gander.
The Temple mount was the Jewish center of worship for 2100 years at least before Islam even existed. The SECOND temple was destroyed in 70 C.E. approximately. The advent of Islam in the mid 6th century C.E. approximately. Few Jews lay unilateral claim to the Temple Mount. Everyone should be able to pray there. Jews and Muslims. IT IS ONLY THE MUSLIMS THAT ARE TRYING TO PREVENT FREEDOM OF PRAYER FOR EVERYONE.
"Israel should stop paying the salaries of imams and mosque heads that incite against it". Amen! Do it already, don't talk. Find a better way to use my income tax.
But if that's the intention, then the Edah Haredis should be banned at the same time. Religious extremism is evil, whethe3r it be Muslim or Jewish.
what hypocrites !
An Islamic movement should not exist within the borders of the sovereign Jewish State of Israel.
only question is, what took you so long?
Al Aqsa is a symbol of the fight towards emancipation of Arabs and Muslims. Rulers who masided with the US and Israel barely care to defend our rights or work towards real and durable peace. Sheikh Raed is courageous and wise. Palestinians of 48 are defending Al Aqsa with their maigre resources and doing well.
he & his ilk can stay in their homes and go home both at the same time.
What does Sheikh Ra'ad Salah do for a crust when he is not inciting violence? Perhaps incitement is his occupation... Silvan Shalom is right Sheikh Ra'ad Salah should be arrested for incitement. If Sheikh Ra'ad Salah does not like Israel he should be moved far away and find a new occupation.
I take it from what Salah says that only Muslims,Arabs and Palestinians have rights but Jews and Israelis have none. As I have often pointed out,Islamic culture is based on elitism,mendacity and violence,and we have all of them here. THREE CHEERS FOR ISRAEL!!!
It's her Rudolfo Valentino ,subject of veneration and submission.Just like Arafat had been for her and her Leftie pack before.
permit his movement to operate? It is so obvious, the man would do all he could to undermine Israel's very existence while using its democratic laws and institutions. Can't a democracy like Israel defend itself from such people?
Israel should deport Sheikh Ra`ad Salah That is what Israel should do, We already had a Haj Amin Al Hussieni in our History; We know where this is going! Deport this religious inciter!
Israel should deport Sheikh Ra`ad Salah That is what Israel should do, We already had a Haj Amin Al Hussieni in our History; We know where this is going! Deport this religious inciter!