By Mel Frykberg
"EAST JERUSALEM, Oct 11 (IPS) - Clashes between Israeli security forces and protesting Palestinians have subsided as several hundred Muslims agreed to evacuate Jerusalem's Al-Aqsa Mosque following a deal brokered by the Jordanian Embassy in Tel Aviv Saturday.
But the Islamic Movement, whose members sought to take over the mosque, is at the centre of intense controversy. In Israel demands have risen for the arrest of Islamic Movement leader Sheikh Raed Salah.
Israeli police accuse Salah of waging a "religious war" and say he is guilty of "incitement and sedition"......
Muslim fears around Al-Aqsa mosque are based on Israeli efforts to Judaise East Jerusalem in order to keep the city under eternal Israeli sovereignty, thereby preventing the eastern sector becoming the capital of a future Palestinian state. Al-Aqsa Mosque is a part of East Jerusalem.
In an interview with IPS shortly before he was arrested and banned from Jerusalem for 30 days, Sheikh Raed Salah said that Israeli authorities had earlier informed some of his colleagues that the mosque would be divided.
The Israelis reportedly said that only the mosque itself was considered a Muslim site but that the other buildings in the compound and the other areas were public property and would fall under Israeli control.
"This is a red line. We will not allow the Israelis to take over the Haram compound. If we have to choose between martyrdom and losing the Haram, we choose the former," Salah told IPS........"
"EAST JERUSALEM, Oct 11 (IPS) - Clashes between Israeli security forces and protesting Palestinians have subsided as several hundred Muslims agreed to evacuate Jerusalem's Al-Aqsa Mosque following a deal brokered by the Jordanian Embassy in Tel Aviv Saturday.
But the Islamic Movement, whose members sought to take over the mosque, is at the centre of intense controversy. In Israel demands have risen for the arrest of Islamic Movement leader Sheikh Raed Salah.
Israeli police accuse Salah of waging a "religious war" and say he is guilty of "incitement and sedition"......
Muslim fears around Al-Aqsa mosque are based on Israeli efforts to Judaise East Jerusalem in order to keep the city under eternal Israeli sovereignty, thereby preventing the eastern sector becoming the capital of a future Palestinian state. Al-Aqsa Mosque is a part of East Jerusalem.
In an interview with IPS shortly before he was arrested and banned from Jerusalem for 30 days, Sheikh Raed Salah said that Israeli authorities had earlier informed some of his colleagues that the mosque would be divided.
The Israelis reportedly said that only the mosque itself was considered a Muslim site but that the other buildings in the compound and the other areas were public property and would fall under Israeli control.
"This is a red line. We will not allow the Israelis to take over the Haram compound. If we have to choose between martyrdom and losing the Haram, we choose the former," Salah told IPS........"
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