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Israeli occupation police arrest niece of Sheikh Raed Salah

December 4, 2019 at 12:47 pm

Israeli occupation police arrested Muntaha Amara on Tuesday, the niece of Sheikh Raed Salah, who heads the Islamic Movement in Israel, Anadolu has reported. A video on social media showed that Amara was arrested while praying in front of the mosque of Al-Rahma Gate within the Noble Sanctuary of Al-Aqsa.

Police officers surrounded her and started speaking with her while she was praying, before disrupting her prayer and arresting her. “What did I do?” Amara asked. “I have never annoyed anyone.”

Other worshippers protested at her arrest. “We will never bend down [in submission] and we will never be broken,” she insisted. “Al Aqsa is for us.”

The prominent Sheikh’s niece has been arrested on several occasions by Israeli occupation forces while inside Al-Aqsa Mosque. Amara has also been deported several times and banned from entering the Noble Sanctuary for different periods.

READ: The importance of Sheikh Raed Salah and the Palestinians in Israel

In a statement, the Department of Islamic Religious Endowments (Al-Awqaf Al-Islamiyah) in Jerusalem said that the Israeli police arrested Muntaha Amara and a boy who was named as Majd Qabha. Both come from Arab communities within Israel and both were arrested while performing prayers within Al Aqsa Mosque compound.

Palestinian worshippers reopened the mosque of Al Rahma Gate earlier this year. It was closed by the occupation authorities about 15 years ago. Israeli settlers and officials pass through Al Rahma Gate almost every day when they raid Al-Aqsa Mosque.