Published yesterday (updated) 14/10/2009 10:28
Hatem Abdul Qader [MaanImages]
Abdul Qader said that he was released with an order that was to submit to further interrogation by Israel’s Shin Bet (General Security Service) at 10am on Wednesday.
The former minister of Jerusalem affairs said he was questioned by Israeli officers about the recent demonstrations at the Al-Aqsa Mosque, and relations between Fatah and the Islamic Movement, a Palestinian group Israel.
According to Abdul Qader, he and Islamic Movement leader Ali Sheikha were seized by undercover Israeli agents at the Qalandiya military checkpoint between Jerusalem and Ramallah. He said officers disguised as motorists disabled his car and “kidnapped” the two officials. They were taken to Israel’s Russian Compound prison in West Jerusalem.
Ali Sheikha is still being held and likely interrogated, Abdul Qader said.
Israel’s Minister of Internal Security, Yitzhak Aharonovich, a member of the ultra-right-wing Israel Beiteinu party called on the Knesset last week to arrest Abdul Qader and the leaders of the Islamic movement for their role in the Jerusalem protests.
The two officials were both arrested earlier this month during the Palestinian protests against reported Israeli intrusions into the Al-Aqsa Mosque. Sheikha was one of the more than 100 Palestinians who barricaded themselves in the Al-Aqsa Mosque last week in an attempt to protect it from rumored Israeli attacks during the Jewish holidays.
Israeli forces arrested Abdul Qader in March when he released hundreds of balloons in during the festival Al-Quds Capital of Arab Culture celebrating the Palestinian history of Jerusalem.
