No one was surprised by the Aug. 15 arrest of Sheikh Raed Salah. Residents of the Israeli Arab town of Umm al-Fahm, where the head of the Northern Branch of the Islamic Movement in Israel lives, as well as his family, knew it was only a matter of time before police would come knocking on his door in the middle of the night. His wife, Camela Ahmed Mahajna, told Arabic-language Radio Ashams that in light of what she called the Israeli media’s campaign of incitement against her husband, he had been certain the police were biding their time, waiting for a suitable moment to arrest him. He was right.
Salah’s name came up in relation to the crisis over the installation of metal detectors at the entrance to Jerusalem’s Temple Mount/Haram al-Sharif compound in July, as someone inciting Muslims to violence to “liberate” Islam’s third holiest site. Salah was one of the founders of the Mourabitoun, a group of Muslims mobilized by the Islamic Movement to protect Al-Aqsa Mosque against Jewish visitors to the site. He was one of the first to issue a religious clarion call years ago, warning that Al-Aqsa was under threat and that the Jews were desecrating it by their very presence there.
