East Jerusalem: Police detained several prominent activists of Fatah, the ruling movement of Palestinian Authority Chairman Mahmoud Abbas. That's what they claim at the door.
The three activists wanted to hold a raffle on the Temple Mount for residents wishing to make a pilgrimage to Mecca in Saudi Arabia. The fifty winners of the lottery were supposed to receive full funding from Mahmoud Abbas for the trip to the kingdom to fulfill the Hajj observance.
The activists are Ahed Rishq, Iyad Bashir, and Hisham Shkeir. Ramallah assessed that they had been detained for interrogation on suspicion of violating the "Implementation Law," which prohibits Palestinians from carrying out governmental activity within the State of Israel.
Photo: Raphael Ben Ari (Archive) // Temple Mount compound.
Fatah issued a condemnation, claiming that Israel was harassing its members in Jerusalem. "Today's arrests come as part of Israel's attempts to establish facts on the ground and erase the Arab and Palestinian identity of Jerusalem," it said.
Fatah admitted that Hamas representatives were supposed to supervise, on Mahmoud Abbas' behalf, the lottery held for residents wishing to make a pilgrimage to Mecca next month.
According to a source in the city, "The Palestinian Authority and the Fatah movement have not given up on attempts to continue stirring up Jerusalem in order to usurp Israeli sovereignty, whether by sponsoring events held in the city or by political and commercial meetings of Fatah members in East Jerusalem."
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