The Israeli police on Wednesday banned two Palestinian women from the 1948 occupied lands from entering the Aqsa Mosque for two weeks with no reason.
According to Wadi Hilweh Information Center the police ordered Muntaha Imara and Nour Mohamed to stay away from the Aqsa Mosque for two weeks after arresting and interrogating them at Qishla police station.
Plain-clothes agents and police forces on Wednesday encircled a bus transporting women from Palestinian areas in Israel in Bab al-Asbat area of the Old City of Jerusalem and checked the IDs of the drivers and passengers.
Later the police let the women go after photographing their IDs but detained the driver and the two ladies.
“After performing prayers at the Aqsa Mosque and leaving some of us were already waiting at Bab al-Asbat parking area where there were men in civilian attire and when we were all ready to get aboard the bus they suddenly asked for the ID card of the driver and identified themselves as intelligence officers” Muntaha Imara explained.
A few minutes later Imara said the bus was surrounded by police forces and officers who forced all the women to leave and hand their ID cards before seizing the bus and arresting her along with Nour Mohamed and the driver.
She added that they were detained for many hours on suspicion of having ties with banned groups and interrogated about the reason for their presence inside the Mosque and Bab al-Rahma area.
After interrogating them they were released on condition of staying away from the Mosque for two weeks and after they signed a pledge to pay 5000 shekels.
