Sheikh Raed Salah
Photo: Zoom Out Productions
Salah's affiliates want him to tone down speeches
Members of Islamic Movement say sheikh's inciting manner harmful to message they are trying to relay
Senior members of the Islamic Movement criticized the head of the movement's northern branch, Sheikh Raed Salah, for recent outbursts that got him arrested and subsequently banned from entering Jerusalem for 30 days.
"The battle-cries by Sheikh Salah represent us in essence, but can be said differently, in a calmer tone," said one of the movement's founders, Sheikh Hashem Abed al-Rahman.
Arrest of a Sheikh
Jerusalem Magistrate's Court releases head of Islamic Movement's northern branch Sheikh Raed Salah hours after his arrest for incitement, but bans him from entering Jerusalem for 30-day period
Leaders of the Islamic Movement held a meeting Tuesday just moments before Salah's arrest, in which they made an attempt at calming matters by sending fewer worshippers than they had earlier planned by bus to the al-Aqsa Mosque.
The meeting ended with a call to Salah to leave Jerusalem, but he refused and called on more worshippers to come to the mosque to pray.
On Wednesday Salah met with senior members of the movement, who asked him to tone down his speeches. "The Islamic Movement does not call for an uprising or an intifada," al-Rahman said.
"We are a movement which calls for a good life together, and thinks about what can be done so that things don't snowball. The political leaders, ours as well as those that serve in the government, need to lower the flames and moderate the battle-cries. I say to the leaders in government: Stop taunting the Muslims and give us full rights to the al-Aqsa Mosque."
