Raed Salah faces incitement probe after calling for ‘intifada’ against Mugrabi dig

Posted on February 21, 2007 Updated on February 21, 2007

 

Sheikh Raed Salah, head of the Islamic Movement’s northern branch, called Friday for an “intifada” to save the Al-Aqsa Mosque. In response, Public Security Minister Avi Dichter asked Attorney General Menachem Mazuz to investigate whether Salah’s comments constitute incitement and sedition.

In a fiery speech at his protest tent in the East Jerusalem neighborhood of Wadi Joz, Salah accused Israel of attempting to build the third temple, according to Israel Radio.

“Israeli history is drenched in blood,” Israel Radio quoted Salah as saying. “They want to build their temple while our blood is on their clothing, on their doorposts, in their food and in their water.”

Salah’s comments come in the wake of violent protests over renovations and excavations at the Mugrabi Gate, next to the Western Wall and the Temple Mount.

Police Commissioner Moshe Karadi said the police would investigate Salah’s comments. The police are considering requesting a court order blocking Salah from Jerusalem.

Friday prayers at the Temple Mount ended without a recurrence of last week’s violent protests, but there were several clashes between police and Arab youths in East Jerusalem.

Police arrested 10 Arab youths in East Jerusalem, including four suspected of attacking police officers in an attempt to reach the Temple Mount. Police said the others were arrested for participating in anti-renovation riots. Five of them threw stones at police near the Damascus Gate.

In East Jerusalem’s Ras al-Amud neighborhood, Arab youths threw stones at police, who dispersed the demonstration with stun grenades.

For Friday’s prayers, Jerusalem police let male worshipers aged 50 and over enter the Temple Mount compound. There were no restrictions on female worshipers.

Meanwhile, in Kashmir, India, separatist militants called a strike to protest the excavations on Friday. Most shops and businesses were closed in Kashmir’s main city of Srinagar.

Traffic was thin and most streets in Srinagar, summer capital of Jammu and Kashmir, India’s only Muslim-majority state, were deserted in response to the call by Islamist militants fighting New Delhi’s rule in the disputed region.

“We appeal to Kashmiri Muslims to protest against the nefarious designs of Israel,” Jamiat-ul-Mujahideen, a hardline militant group, said in a statement. Al-Badr, another militant group, backed the call.

Scores of Muslims shouting “Al-Aqsa mosque is crying … down with Israel” took to streets of Srinagar and burned Israeli flags.

By Jonathan Lis and Yoav Stern, at Haaretz.com