Israeli Vice Premier: Israel Should Outlaw the Islamic Movement

The Islamic Movement should be outlawed and the head of its northern branch arrested for incitement, Israeli vice Premier Silvan Shalom said on Tuesday, in the wake of recent violent clashes between Arab protesters and police at the Al-Aqsa Mosque compound in occupied Jerusalem.

Shalom told Israel Radio that the Islamic Movement was provoking the masses into violence, adding that northern branch leader Sheikh Ra'ad Salah and his deputy Kamel Hatib should both be arrested.

Shalom also blamed the Palestinian Authority for the recent flare ups, claiming it was trying to place occupied East Jerusalem under its own jurisdiction. "We must be decisive and act with a firm hand, or they will identify our weakness and intensify their actions," said Shalom.

Public Security Minister Yitzhak Aharonovitch and Police Commissioner David Cohen announced on Monday that they would "take steps" in the coming days against Salah, who has been prohibited from entering the Al-Aqsa Mosque area for several months and has been staying at a nearby residence while following developments.

Salah said on Monday that the clashes in the Old City of occupied Jerusalem would last as long as Israel's "occupation" of the city and Al-Aqsa Mosque continued.

He said the Israeli government must understand that using force does not grant it rights to Al-Aqsa Mosque or anywhere else in East Jerusalem, and that the key to achieving calm in the area is an Israeli "withdrawal."

"No one has rights to the Al-Aqsa Mosque other than the Muslims. The mosque compound is Muslim, Palestinian and Arab, and Israel has no rights to the mosque or East Jerusalem," he said.

Echoing Shalom's sentiment, National Infrastructure Minister Uzi Landau said on Monday that "Israel should stop paying the salaries of imams and mosque heads that incite against it."

Landau urged the government to hold a special session dealing with ending PA activities in occupied Jerusalem, as well as act toward banishing its instructions from the capital.

Israeli Deputy Prime Minister and Interior Minister Eli Yishai, also relating to alleged PA involvement in recent occupied Jerusalem clashes, said that "the State of Israel is the only authority in Jerusalem and no force can qualify that."

"The anti-Jewish incitement coming from within Israel's borders and abroad cannot loosen the tie between the people of Israel and its capital and the need to secure and strengthen it," Yishai added.