J'lem riots: Fatah official banned from capital again
Hatem Abdel Kader was removed from Old City in early October for 15 days. Upon resuming riots on Sunday court bans Fatah's senior member from capital for three weeks. Minister Aharonovitch appeals to Arab MKs to work towards restoring order
Following Sunday's riots in the Temple Mount compound, Fatah official Hatem Abdel Kader, who is in charge of the Jerusalem portfolio in the Palestinian organization, was removed from the Old City area for a period of three weeks. He previously received a similar order following the unrest in the beginning of the month which banned him from Jerusalem for 15 days.
The Jerusalem Magistrate's Court thus granted the police its request with the ban order. Ali Abu Sheikha, a senior element in the Islamic Movement's northern faction was also banned from the Old City, for a week. The two were apprehended on Sunday on suspicion of disrupting order and inciting the masses.
Meanwhile, Internal Security Minister Yitzhak Aharonovitch commented on the clashes in the capital. "There are too many extreme elements on both sides stirring the pot in the Temple Mount, and I ask them all to cease stirring things up, inciting and enflaming," the minister said during a Knesset debate on the Arab factions' non-confidence motion.
"The Temple Mount should be carefully defended," Aharonovitch said and added that clashing with police forces is superfluous. "I say this to the Arab MKs too – provide and assist the police in its duty."
'Exercise restraint'
During the riots, nine police officers were lightly wounded and 21 rioters were detained. Later on Sunday a young Palestinian woman stabbed an Israeli security guard in the Qalandiya checkpoint north of Jerusalem. The guard was hospitalized in moderate condition and the woman was caught carrying the knife shortly after the incident.
Police Commissioner Dudi Cohen spoke to reporters on Sunday near the Temple Mount and addressed the Muslim worshippers.
He laid the blame on the Islamic Movement and commented, "I observed during the day many large groups of Arab-Israelis and Arab residents of east Jerusalem who showed up upon the encouragement of the Islamic Movement, whose leaders are here.
"I call on them to exercise restraint and not to incite. The police will act with a strong hand against anyone who disrupts order on the Temple Mount and against those who incite to riot."
