Soldiers informed Sheikh Sabri that he was under arrest and told him to accompany them.
Sheikh Sabri refused, telling the soldiers he would travel to the Qashla Israeli police station in West Jerusalem on his own.
The former Grand Mufti then headed to the station accompanied by his grandson Asim and his lawyer Hamza Qutina, his son said.
|
Scuffles have previously broken out between Israeli police and Palestinians around the mosque and on Friday, worshippers tried to pray close to the mosque and to break through barriers to enter the compound.
Jerusalem's Al-Aqsa mosque is the third holiest place in Islam and a key Palestinian national symbol. It is also close to The Western Wall, Judaism's holiest site. Some Israeli extremists wish to re-build a biblical temple which they say existed in ancient times on the current site of the mosque.Muslim worshippers' access to al-Aqsa and the adjoining Dome of the Rock is controlled by Israeli security forces.
Israel gained control of the Al-Aqsa Mosque when it occupied East Jerusalem in the 1967 Six-Day War. Israel later annexed Palestinian East Jerusalem in a move never recognised by the international community.
The New ArabComments