Palestinian Authority (PA) police on Sunday night arrested a Palestinian Arab DJ who played at a trance party held at the site of the Nabi Musa mosque on the weekend.
The arrest comes after a group of young Palestinian Arabs organized a dance party on Saturday at the site of the Nabi Musa mosque, located east of Jerusalem in the Judean wilderness. The site contains an inactive mosque that is defined as sacred by the PA “ministry of religious endowments”. Before the party, a sound system and a stand for distributing alcohol were placed at the scene.
Hundreds of Palestinian Arabs took part in the party and posted videos of the festivities to social media. This provoked outrage due to the fact that men and women danced together and the fact that alcohol, which is forbidden in Islam, was sold at the scene.
Palestinian Arabs who were angered by the party at the holy site arrived at the scene, broke the sound system and dispersed the dancers with sticks, planks and detonators.
PA cabinet leader Mohammad Shtayyeh has set up a commission of inquiry to investigate the events that led to the party. The PA “deputy minister of endowments” said that "what happened there was disgusting. We will not remain silent and we will persecute anyone who took part in it."