Arab Israelis protest ban on Northern Branch of Islamic Movement

Hundreds of members of Israel’s Arab community protested Saturday over the recent security cabinet decision to outlaw the radical Northern Branch of the Islamic Movement.

Protesters held demonstrations in the northern towns of Kafr Kanna and Deir al-Asad and in the central town of Qalansawe, the Ynet website reported. The demonstrators expressed support for the Northern Branch leader Sheikh Raed Salah, carrying banners reading, “We are all Raed Salah,” and “The Islamic Movement is stronger than the laws of the occupying state.”

The Northern Branch rejects the Oslo peace accords between Israel and the Palestinians, and boycotts Israel’s national elections on the grounds that they give legitimacy to the institutions of the Jewish state.

This is the second time this week that Arab Israelis have protested the ban. On Thursday, the sector held a general strike over the decision, with schools, municipalities and smaller communities participating.

The High Follow-Up Committee for Arab Citizens of Israel, an umbrella organization representing Arab Israelis at a national level, announced the strike on Tuesday, the day after the decision to outlaw the organization.

The cabinet on Monday charged the Northern Branch of having links to terrorist groups and inciting the recent wave of deadly violence. It said in a statement that membership or activity within the framework of the group would constitute a “criminal offense punishable by a prison sentence.”

Police then raided the Islamist group’s offices overnight Monday, seizing documents, computers and money in chapters across the country.

Salah said last week that his organization intends to respond to what he called “continued Israeli escalation” on the Temple Mount in Jerusalem.

“We have a package of plans ready to be unleashed immediately,” he said during a sermon. “May the streets of Jerusalem be purified with the blood of the innocent, who shed it in order to separate from their souls the soldiers of the Israel occupation, also in the blessed Al-Aqsa Mosque.”

On Tuesday, Salah expressed defiance against the decision to ban the Northern Branch, saying he would remain in charge of the group and “continue to defend Al-Aqsa from Israel.”

Salah was sentenced earlier this year to 11 months in prison for incitement to violence and racism over an inflammatory sermon he delivered in 2007 in Jerusalem. He has previously served terms for similar offenses.