Raed Salah

Raed Salah is the leader of the northern branch of the Islamic Movement in Israel. First known among Arab citizens of Israel as a poet and father of eight children, Salah also served as the mayor of Umm al-Fahm - an Israeli-Arab city bordering the Green Line - in the 1990s.cite web|title=Israeli Arab's Rising Voice of Opposition|author=Ilene R. Prusher|publisher=The Christian Science Monitor|date=2006-10-26|accessdate=2007-05-06|url=http://www.csmonitor.com/2006/1026/p06s01-wome.htm] His popularity increased after his arrest by Israeli authorities in 2003 on allegations of funding Hamas.

Restrictions on movement and surveillance prior to his arrest

For eighteen months prior to his arrest in 2003, Salah was barred from leaving Israel.cite web|title=Matrix Reloaded - Yet Again|author=Jonathan Cook|publisher=Al-Ahram Weekly|date=2003-11-19|accessdate=2007-05-06|url=http://weekly.ahram.org.eg/2003/664/op40.htm] The newspaper produced by the northern branch of the Islamic Movement was shut down and "charities" he had founded were closed. Since the election of Ariel Sharon, the Shin Bet had been monitoring and taping phone calls made by Salah and his officials, and intercepting e-mails as well.cite web|title=Matrix Reloaded - Yet Again|author=Jonathan Cook|publisher=Al-Ahram Weekly|date=2003-11-19|accessdate=2007-05-06|url=http://weekly.ahram.org.eg/2003/664/op40.htm] It was rumored that over 200,000 recordings were awaiting translation from Arabic to Hebrew to prepare for his trial.

Arrest and two-year imprisonment

Arrested and jailed on suspicion of raising millions of dollars for Hamas in May 2003,cite web|title=Israel and the occupied territories: Country Reports on Human Rights Practices (2004)|author=Bureau of Democracy, Human Rights, and Labor|publisher=UNISPAL|date=2005-02-28|accessdate=2007-05-06|url=http://domino.un.org/UNISPAL.NSF/3d14c9e5cdaa296d85256cbf005aa3eb/2d69e78d344eaa0e85256fb700578991!OpenDocument] human rights non-governmental organizationss charged that he had been "unfairly denied bail despite his status and community ties." He was released two years later under a deal that barred him from traveling abroad and required him to check in with an officer every month. Salah has alleged that the charges against him were a "mockery".

While Salah and four other party leaders stood trial on serious charges of aiding and abetting a terror organization, the Israeli police admitted the accusations revolved primarily around money laundering.

Reaction

Jonathan Cook, author of "Blood and Religion", has submitted that "The purpose of this persecution [of Salah and others] has to been to neuter all manifestations of Palestinian consciousness among the minority - to transform it into a docile and anonymous grouping the state likes to call the 'Israeli Arabs'."

This viewpoint was also echoed by Ahmed Tibi, an Arab member of the Israeli Knesset, who told Ha'aretz newspaper in September 2004 that the arrest of Salah was "a stupid and oppressive step taken by the Israeli authorities, mainly to intimidate the Arab leadership especially the Islamic Movement." [cite web|title=Q & A with Ta'al MK Ahmed Tibi|publisher=Ha'aretz, English Edition|date=2004-09-02|accessdate=2007-05-06|url=http://www.haaretz.co.il/hasen/pages/QA.jhtml?qaNo=110]

Multi-faith activities in defense of the Haram al-Sharif

On February 28, 2007, Israeli police prevented Christian and Muslim leaders from holding a meeting and press conference organized by Salah in East Jerusalem to put forward their opposition to Israeli excavation work being carried out near the Haram al-Sharif or Temple Mount complex.cite web|title=Israeli officers kill Islamic Jihad leaders| publisher=Guardian Unlimited|date=2007-02-28|accessdate=2007-05-06|url=http://www.guardian.co.uk/israel/Story/0,,2023363,00.html] Police claimed that the organization behind the event, the al-Aqsa Foundation, was affiliated with Hamas. When the event was moved to another hotel after receiving a cancellation order, Israeli police moved in and broke up the meeting. Salah told the Guardian newspaper that this "childish behavior" on the part of Israeli security forces "…does not protect security. It actually makes the security situation explosive."

Western Wall Comments

Salah has made several sermons, available on the Islamic Movement website, claiming that Jews have fabricated their connection to the Western Wall, which he refers to as the Al-Buraq wall. Ynetnews quotes him as saying " [The Western Wall] is part of Al-Aqsa's western tower, which the Israeli establishment fallaciously and sneakily calls the 'Wailing Wall'. The wall is part of the holy al-Aqsa Mosque," and "He who says that the Jews or the Israeli establishment has any right to al-Aqsa, even to just one stone - this is an abominable attack, a falsehood, completely baseless." cite web|title=Sheikh Salah: Western Wall Belongs to Muslims| publisher=Ynetnews |date=2007-02-18|accessdate=2008-29-04|url=http://www.ynetnews.com/articles/0,7340,L-3366266,00.html]

References