Tawfiq Muhammad, the media coordinator for the leader of the Northern Islamic Movement in the occupied Palestinian territories, revealed that Sheikh Raed Salah was the victim of provocative Israeli actions when he arrived at the Al-Aqsa Mosque last evening.
In an exclusive statement to Safa News Agency, Tawfiq Muhammad made it clear that the sheikh was neither detained nor attempted to be detained when he arrived at Al-Aqsa Mosque yesterday.
“What happened,” he claimed, “were attempts to provoke through some procedures, such as asking for identification cards and the like, and some questions.”
He emphasised that the sheikh was subjected to provocation as part of “the procedures that all Palestinians who arrive at Al-Aqsa Mosque are exposed to, and of course, it is an unacceptable measure, but it is the occupation and its practices,” adding that this provocation is an unacceptable measure.
While media outlets claimed that Sheikh Salah was the target of an attempted arrest yesterday, video recordings showed the Israeli forces following him to Al-Aqsa Mosque.
Sheikh Raed Salah has experienced several instances of actual arbitrary detention in occupation prisons in recent years, particularly since 2010. This is because of his nonviolent activism against the racist occupation policies regarding Jerusalem and Al-Aqsa Mosque as well as his position as a bulwark against the plans for Judaization and Westernisation.
Sheikh Salah was placed under strict house detention until August of 2022 after serving five months in prison in 2010, eleven months in prison in 2016, and another eleven months in what is known as the “file of constants” in 2017.
And all of Sheikh Raed’s incarceration sessions took place in the hard solitary confinement area under difficult conditions, not for any particular cause, but rather as revenge for his actions opposing the aggressive goals of the occupation.
The “Sheikh of Al-Aqsa” is the target of an aggressive incitement campaign from Israeli circles, who accuse him of encouraging the mosque’s blessed acts, the most recent of which took place during the previous Ramadan.