Provocative Islamic Movement-Northern Branch leader Sheikh Raah Salah will not be permitted to enter Jerusalem for the coming three weeks, and possibly for six months. The order was issued Monday night by Northern District IDF Commander Gen. Yair Golan.
The IDF explains that the purpose of the order is to maintain state security, public security, and public order. "Salah's activities and statements over the years regarding Jerusalem and the Temple Mount have frequently caused tensions and even violence," an IDF official explained. "The courts have ruled his activities to have added to the outburst of violent incidents."
The Northern Branch of the Islamic Movement under Salah's leadership has rejected the Oslo Accords as being too compromising, unlike other elements in the Islamic Movement. Sheikh Salah has served prison time more than once on charges of contacts with enemy agents, incitement, attacking police officers, and the like.
Following Arab riots on the Temple Mount this past summer, MK Yariv Levine (Likud) said that Salah's citizenship should be revoked and he should be deported. The sheikh told a gathering of supporters in Umm el-Fahm around that time that, "We bless the holy martyrs who died for Allah and Jerusalem," "With blood and spirit we will redeem Al-Aqsa," and the like. In the past he has accused Jews of partaking of children's blood and of being "loser monkeys," and has said that Jerusalem will be the capital of the world Muslim caliphate.
The distancing order is currently valid for three weeks, during which Salah may appeal both the order and the intention to extend it for six additional months.