Fatah Official Says Violence May Lead to 3rd Intifada

Fatah Official Says Violence May Lead to 3rd Intifada
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07/10/2009 “Recent violence in the capital and the ongoing tensions surrounding Al-Aqsa mosque could trigger a third intifada,” senior Fatah official Hatem Abdel Kader said in a conversation with the Israeli daily The Jerusalem Post on Tuesday.

"It's a very sensitive situation," the former Palestinian Authority minister for Jerusalem affairs indicated as he stood outside a home in the city's Wadi Joz neighborhood. Officials from the northern branch of the Islamic Movement in Israel, including its leader, Sheikh Raed Salah, were among those who had congregated on the home's roof, in response to the recent Israeli violent actions.

Salah was arrested at that same house in the evening, after police decided that comments he had made in recent days - including calling on Muslims to become "martyrs," if necessary, for the sake of the Aqsa Mosque - constituted “incitement.”The Jerusalem Magistrates Court released him on Tuesday night, just hours after his arrest, but issued an injunction prohibiting him from entering Jerusalem for 30 days.

Public Security Minister Yitzhak Aharonovitch lauded the decision to arrest Salah. "I offer my full backing to the police. We will continue to enforce the law in an uncompromising manner," he said. "The police will use all of the tools at its disposal to act against any element that incites others to violence and subversion against the state," Aharonovitch said.

Abdel Kader, who was arrested on Sunday for “inciting violence” and banned from entering the occupied city for 15 days, blamed the police for the current round of tensions that have engulfed the capital's eastern neighborhoods. "Israel's decisions so far have been very dangerous," he said. "And if they don't want things to escalate, the Israelis should back away from this issue. If not, we are afraid that the situation could lead to an explosion - it could lead to a third intifada."

Abdel Kader's comments came after an upswing in violence in recent days, which began on Sunday morning when Israeli extremist groups tried to enter the Aqsa Mosque and when the Israeli occupation police denied the Palestinians entry to the compound for morning prayers.

Since the Temple Mount was reopened to Muslim worshipers on Sunday afternoon, entry to the compound has been restricted to females and to men over the age of 50. Abdel Kader's arrest on Sunday afternoon was also part of the occupation police actions in that day, but the Fatah official was released on the condition that he remain at least 150 meters away from the occupied Jerusalem city for 15 days.

Abdel Kader, who represents Fatah's "young guard," said all eyes were on Al-Aksa, and that Palestinians were deeply concerned over the tensions surrounding the site.

Touching on the Israeli authorities’ plan to allow Jewish prayer on the Aqsa mosque, Abdel Kader said that no other religious groups should be allowed to pray there. "People must respect the site," he said. "It's a very important symbol for us, and [the current restrictions] are a violation of our freedom of religion. What would happen if they restricted access to the Kotel? Arabs aren't allowed to go there as it is now, but what if they restricted entry to the Kotel for Jews?"

Abdel Kader also said any outbreak of violence would threaten already-stalled negotiations between Israel and the Palestinians. "If they make something happen in Al-Aqsa, the entire peace process could explode," he said.