Islamic leader ordered out of J'lem

A Jerusalem court on Thursday ordered the fiery leader of the Islamic Movement in Israel out of Jerusalem for eight days for violating a previous court order, police said. The interim decision handed down by the Jerusalem Magistrate's Court comes two weeks after a previous court ruling barred Sheikh Raed Salah from congregating with more than eight people in the city following a series of run-ins the radical leader had with police over a contested archeological excavation underway near the Temple Mount. Salah, an Israeli citizen who heads the extremist northern branch of the Islamic Movement of Israeli Arabs which denies Israel's legitimacy, had previously called for an intifada over the archeological dig by the Jerusalem holy site. He is already under investigation on incitement charges for those remarks. Last month, the court ordered Salah to stay out of the Old City of Jerusalem for two months after scuffling with police near the site of the dig. He is to be arraigned in Jerusalem court next month for assaulting police officers in that incident. The Islamic leader was subsequently ordered by the court not to congregate in the city with more than eight people, a ruling police said that he violated. Salah has spearheaded the Islamic campaign against the excavation, asserting that Israel is planning to damage the Al Aksa mosque inside the ancient compound. The archeological excavation underway ahead of the planned construction of a new bridge to the Mughrabi Gate is taking place dozens of meters outside the Temple Mount compound. In the past, Salah has served a two year sentence for a series of security offenses, including financing Hamas activities.