JERUSALEM
An Israeli court on Thursday slapped the leader of the Islamic Movement inside Israel, Sheikh Raed Salah, with an 11-month jail term for "inciting violence" during a mosque sermon.
The same court also slapped Salah with a suspended three-month jail sentence, according to the movement.
On its website, the movement said the court had accused Salah of "inciting violence" in a mosque sermon he delivered in 2007.
The movement added that the court verdicts had been issued against the backdrop of Israel's demolition of the Magharba Gate road, which leads to the Al-Aqsa Mosque, on Feb. 6, 2007.
Scores of Salah's supporters gathered outside the court when the sentences were delivered on Thursday.
Scores of supporters of Israeli right-wing parties also gathered outside the court, according the Islamic Movement.
Soon after the road was demolished, Salah had slammed the Israeli authorities.
A leading Islamic Movement member, meanwhile, said Salah planned to appeal the sentence.
"This sentence shows Israel's true face," Tawfiq Mohamed, a member of the movement's political bureau, told The Anadolu Agency.
"Israel hates Salah because he has led the charge in defense of [Jerusalem's] Al-Aqsa Mosque," he said.
Palestinian faction Fatah also decried the ruling, saying it was a step towards implementing the electoral program of Likud Party leader Benjamin Netanyahu, who was asked on Wednesday to form Israel's next government.
"This [ruling] comes in line with Netanyahu's policy," Fatah member Maher Ghoneim told AA.
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 was the site of two Jewish temples in ancient times.
Israel occupied East Jerusalem during the 1967 Middle East War. It later annexed the holy city in 1980, claiming it as the capital of the self-proclaimed Jewish state – a move never recognized by the international community.
In September 2000, a visit to the Al-Aqsa Mosque compound by controversial Israeli leader Ariel Sharon sparked what later became known as the "Second Intifada" – a popular uprising against the Israeli occupation in which thousands of Palestinians were killed.
