After 28 months in prison .. Sheikh Raed Salah and decades of stalking and arrest

Mohammed Mohsen Wedd - Umm al-Fahm

Leaders inside the Palestinian Authority condemned the decision of the Israeli Magistrate Court today, Monday, to imprison the head of the Islamic movement, Sheikh Raed Salah, stressing that it falls within the policies of delegitimizing the struggle of the Arab masses, and because of his stances attached to Al-Aqsa Mosque, which were subjected to years of detention and political prosecution.

The head of the Higher Follow-up Committee for the Arab Masses, Muhammad Baraka, said that the ruling was prepared in advance, and was based on racist climates, incitement against 48 Palestinians, and restricting their freedom of expression and political action.

Baraka added to Al-Jazeera Net that "the target here is not the person of Sheikh Salah as much as the overall work and political discourse of the 48 Palestinians, and this is reflected in political pursuits at various levels."

In turn, the representative of the Joint List, Youssef Jabareen, described the decision as unjust, and falls within the policies of delegitimizing the struggle of the Arab masses and tightening the noose on freedom of expression and political action.

"While Netanyahu and his ministers continue to incite against Arab citizens, the pursuit of Arab leaders is escalating in an effort to create an Arab entity that has been corrupted by the spirit of the era of military rule," Jabarin added.

Today, the Israeli Magistrate’s Court in Haifa sentenced Sheikh Raed Salah to 28 months in prison on charges of "inciting terrorism and supporting a banned organization."

Court Judge Shloma Pingo gave the defense staff until May 25th to appeal the decision and the sentence, according to the chief of the defense team, lawyer Khaled Al-Zabarqa, who explained that the decision is being studied and the possibility of appealing or not appealing the punishment against Sheikh Salah is being examined.

Al-Zubarqa stated to Al-Jazeera Net that the ruling in the "file of constants" served the actual imprisonment of Sheikh Raed Salah for 24 months while counting 4 months with a stay of execution issued against him in the file of "Wadi Al-Joz sermon."

And 11 months of the sentence that Sheikh Raed spent in Israeli prisons during the detention period will be reduced, which means that 17 months will remain from the actual prison.

Repel the occupation
The ruling on Sheikh Salah comes after his statements against the policies of the Israeli occupation against the holy sites and Al-Aqsa, and the installation of electronic gates in the year 2017 in front of the doors of Al-Aqsa Mosque, as he was convicted under an indictment submitted by the Israeli Public Prosecution.

It is mentioned that hundreds of leaders of the Palestinian interior and the people from different Arab towns accompanied Sheikh Salah during the ruling, knowing that he has been under house arrest for more than a year, and he is prohibited from talking to the media or participating in any activities.

The Israeli police arrested Sheikh Salah from his home in the city of Umm al-Fahm in August 2017, and charged him with a 12-count indictment that includes "inciting violence and terrorism in speeches and pronouncements."

Sheikh Salah spent 11 months in actual prison, before being released to a home prison with the imposition of house arrest, knowing that his prosecution was renewed after Israel banned in the Islamic movement in 2015 that he headed under the "anti-terrorism" law.

Years of detention
Sheikh Salah, born in 1958, was arrested for the first time by the Israeli authorities in 1981, for allegedly belonging to a banned organization called the "Jihad Family", where he was subjected to house arrest for several months.

Since then, the Israeli establishment has continued to pursue Sheikh Salah by imposing house arrest, and preventing him from leaving the country and entering occupied Jerusalem and the West Bank.

This pursuit did not prevent Sheikh Salah from continuing his struggle work and his emergence as a leader of the founders of the Islamic project in the Palestinian interior, where he was elected in 1989 as mayor of Umm al-Fahm until 2001, when he resigned from his position to devote himself to Jerusalem and Al-Aqsa.

During his work in the municipality, he launched the "Al-Aqsa in Danger" project, which included running "Al Bareq" buses to Jerusalem, establishing a victory and support festival for Al-Aqsa, and establishing associations to support Al-Aqsa and enhance the resilience of the people of Jerusalem.

Political stalking
In the year 1996, Sheikh Salah announced the split from the Islamic movement and established an Islamic movement that refuses to participate in the Knesset elections. In practice, this was the beginning of the field confrontation between the proposal and thought of Sheikh Salah and the Israeli establishment.

The confrontation was clearly evident in the year 2000 during the outbreak of the second intifada, as it initiated the opening of the large gates of the chapel at the Aqsa Mosque, and the restoration of the Marwani Chapel, which Israel calls "Suleiman's Stables", where Sheikh Salah thwarted her plan to convert the chapel into an underground synagogue.

After that, the Israeli establishment resorted to restricting Sheikh Salah, imposing house arrest and preventing him from traveling in the year 2002, by a decision of the Israeli Minister of Internal Security.

Wadi Al-Joz sermon
The Israeli pursuit of Sheikh Salah, who was arrested in May 2003 after being accused and a number of Islamic movement leaders by the Israeli Public Prosecution on charges of money laundering in favor of the Islamic Resistance Movement (Hamas), continued.

In August 2007, Sheikh Salah was arrested again during a charity ceremony in Wadi Al-Joz, after he confronted the Israeli occupation's plan to demolish the Mugrabi Gate and to construct it with a military bridge.

On October 6, 2009, Sheikh Salah was arrested in the Wadi Al-Joz neighborhood in Jerusalem, and later released after a military order prohibiting him from entering Jerusalem and being in the Al-Aqsa Mosque, a decision that remains in effect today.

Incitement allegations
The Israeli court did not stop pursuing Sheikh Salah, despite his deportation from Jerusalem and Al-Aqsa. In 2010, an Israeli court sentenced him to 5 months in prison under the pretext of incitement, against the background of his speech in Wadi al-Joz following the demolition of the Bab al-Mughrabi Hill in 2007.

The Israeli authorities renewed the arrest of Sheikh Salah in early February 2011 for two months on charges of being in Jerusalem, and in June 2011 the British authorities arrested him in London on the basis of a complaint by pro-Israel organizations, and released him on July 18 of the same year.

In 2013 Sheikh Salah was sentenced to 8 months in prison, after the Israeli Public Prosecution charged him with incitement to incite violence and incitement to hatred, and he was imprisoned despite the dismissal of the charge of inciting hatred in the Magistrate's Court.

However, the Israeli prosecution appealed the decision, requested that he be convicted of incitement to hate, and imprison him between 18 and 40 months for alleged incitement in a sermon delivered in February 2007 in Wadi al-Joz in Jerusalem, where the prosecution's appeal was accepted.