Israel: travel ban on Sheikh Raed Salah ‘oppressive, persecution’

The High Follow-Up Committee for Arab Citizens in Israel said on Sunday that Israel’s travel ban on Sheikh Raed Salah “is oppressive and persecution.” The Israeli occupation authorities prevented Sheikh Salah from boarding a flight to Turkey and told him that he had been placed under a travel ban on Saturday.

According to the Palm Strategic Initiative Centre, Israeli Interior Minister Ayelet Shaked signed an order preventing the veteran Palestinian campaigner — an Israeli citizen — from travelling. She explained that he will be banned for an additional six month by order of the Israeli security services.

“There is no reason for this travel ban, which is a form of oppression and persecution inflicted on Sheikh Raed Salah,” said the Follow-Up Committee. “We stand beside him, as well as beside every activist who faces any form of political persecution.”

The Palestinian Islamic Resistance Movement condemned Israel’s “arbitrary decision” to ban Sheikh Salah. “The travel ban is a new crime against the most basic human rights and international laws that guarantee freedom of movement and travel,” said Hamas. “We affirm that this decision is a desperate attempt to disable the voice of the Palestinian people and the role of its iconic figures in defending Jerusalem and Al-Aqsa Mosque, exposing the occupation crimes and conveying the suffering of Jerusalemites and the repeated violations of Israel and its colonial settlers.”

Sheikh Raed Salah has been prevented from travelling abroad on several occasions since 1981. He has also been detained and imprisoned by the Israeli occupation authorities.

READ: Sheikh Salah: Israel’s measures do not prove it has right to Al-Aqsa Mosque