Police arrest Salah (file)
Police arrest Salah (file)Israel news photo

A Jerusalem court, shortly after police arrested Islamic Movement leader Sheikh Raad Salah for incitement, released him on orders that he stay out of the capital for 30 days. The Jerusalem District Court rejected police arguments that he remain in custody.

Police arrested Salah Tuesday night for instigating the Arab riots that have wrought violence by Arabs in Jerusalem this week. Further riots are feared, both as a reaction to the arrest and to the planned cornerstone ceremony Wednesday for a new Jewish neighborhood in the Jabal Mukhaber area of eastern Jerusalem. The neighborhood is the home to several terrorists, including the perpetrator of the bloody massacre of eight Mercaz HaRav yeshiva students last year.

The arrest of Sheikh Salah, who previously has been convicted for incitement, came after consultation by national police chief Dudu Cohen, Jerusalem police chief Aharon Franco and State Prosecutor Moshe Lador.

“Salah will be investigated because of his speeches over the past few days and continuing incitement to rebellion,” according to a police statement. “The arrest concerns a lone inciter and is not a decision against an entire population. The police emphasized that it works with determination and equality to allow freedom of speech and religious rites for all religions while preventing lone extremists from violating the status quo," the statement said.

Police previously have arrested Jews who have tried to reach the Templle Mount at times when their entry was prohibited due to fears of Arab riots.

Salah’s arrest followed another riot in eastern Jerusalem on Tuesday, when one policeman was wounded as 100 Arabs hurled rocks at officers and tried to block a road in a Jewish neighborhood.