Israel counts on Saudi ‘fatwa’ to discourage protests

By Esat Firat

JERUSALEM (AA) – An Israeli army spokesman is using a fatwa by a Saudi Islamic scholar to urge Palestinians not to take part in protests against the occupation.

In a video appearing on social media Monday, Avichay Adraee cited Sheikh Saleh al-Fawzan, a member of the Council of Senior Scholars in Saudi Arabia, as saying that demonstrations and sit-ins “have nothing to do with Muslims’ ethics” and are “a characteristic of infidels and a sense of anarchy and chaos that is not tolerated by Islam".

Adraee described the "Great March of Return” organized by Palestinians to mark Land Day as the "Chaos Walk".

On March 30, 1976, Palestinians launched a general strike against a decision by Israel to seize large tracts of northern Palestine for settlement. Israeli troops reacted, killing six Palestinians and injuring many more. Land Day is an annual day of commemoration of the events of that date.