Israel arrests Islamic leader Sheik Raed Salah for incitement to terror

Salah was accused of leading campaign stating Al-Aqsa mosque is in danger

Israeli police on Tuesday said it arrested a senior Islamic leader over suspected "incitement".

Sheik Raed Salah is the head of the Northern Branch of the Islamic Movement, a movement Israel outlawed in November 2015, Xinhua news agency reported.

Israeli authorities charge the movement with having "incited" tensions over East Jerusalem's Al-Aqsa Mosque compound, a flashpoint site that Israel annexed, together with the rest of East Jerusalem, after seizing the territory from Jordan in 1976.

Police Spokeswoman Luba Samri said Salah was taken for questioning in the headquarters of Lahav 433, Israel's FBI, and the police will decide if they will ask the court to remand him in custody.

According to the spokeswoman, Salah was accused of leading a campaign stating that "Al-Aqsa is in danger" and Israel wants to change the status quo in the holy site, an allegation denied by Tel Aviv.

Last month, the new electronic gates Israel installed at the entrance to the holy mosque sparked massive protests, which claimed the lives of at least four Palestinians.

"On several occasions, after the (Islamic) Movement was outlawed, the inciter spoke before an audience and a series of statements were published in the media," a police statement said.

An examination of the publications "indicates that some of the statements raise suspicion of committing offences", the statement added.

Salah's wife, Um Omar, said about 20 police officers stormed into their home, confiscating computers and arresting her husband without telling them the reason for his arrest.

Salah has a history of clashes with Israeli authorities.

In 2013, He was sentenced to nine months in prison for "inciting violence" and "racism" during a rally against Israeli construction near the Al-Aqsa compound in 2007.

In the rally, he called on "all Muslims and Arabs to start an uprising in support of holy Jerusalem and the blessed Al-Aqsa Mosque".