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The Islamization of Eastern Jerusalem

[Christian Science Monitor] Ilene R. Prusher - In Arab eastern Jerusalem, Islamist groups are gaining more of a foothold through charity, such as free iftar meals during Ramadan, opening schools, and offering services. Sheikh Raed Salah's Islamic Movement of the North, based in Umm el-Fahm, Israel, feeds up to 5,000 people a day at iftar meals in Jerusalem. "Sheikh Salah has managed to fill the vacuum left by the internal fighting between the Jordanian Waqf and Palestinian Waqf, and has succeeded in highlighting the conflict over the Al Aqsa Mosque locally, regionally, and internationally," says Rasem Abaidat, an eastern Jerusalem writer and activist. The result, he says, is an increasing identification with an Islamic agenda. "The people of eastern Jerusalem have been swept into this wave of Islamicism and are enjoying the attention given to them by such activities." The trend comes against a backdrop of an upswing in attacks on Israelis perpetrated by eastern Jerusalemites, who had not been particularly active in the last intifada.
2008-09-26 01:00:00
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