Israel to question preacher of Jerusalem’s Al-Aqsa Mosque

By Abdelraouf Arnaout

JERUSALEM (AA) – The Israeli intelligence service on Monday summoned the preacher of Al-Aqsa Mosque in occupied East Jerusalem, Sheikh Ekrema Sabri, for questioning, according to his family.

A family member, who spoke on condition of anonymity, said Israeli forces raided Sabri's home in al-Suwaneh neighborhood in East Jerusalem.

“He was summoned for questioning without specifying the reasons,” he told Anadolu Agency.

There was no comment from the Israeli authorities on the report.

Sabri is a staunch critic of the decades-long Israeli occupation of the Palestinian territories and was arrested several times by Israeli forces.

He previously held the position of the Mufti of Jerusalem and the Palestinian territories in from 1994 until 2006.

For Muslims, Al-Aqsa represents the world's third holiest site. Jews, for their part, refer to the area as the “Temple Mount”, claiming it had been the site of two Jewish temples in ancient times.

Israel occupied East Jerusalem, where Al-Aqsa is located, during the 1967 Arab-Israeli War. It annexed the entire city in 1980 in a move never recognized by the international community.

Writing by Ahmed Asmar