Sheikh Raed Salah graduated, in the late 70s’, the religious Islamic college in Nablus, in the Palestinian West Bank, and joined the Islamic-Movement, than led by Sheikh Abdullah Nimer Darwish, soon after. Umm al-Fahem, Raed Salah’s home town, became officially a town in 1985 and he was elected, in 1989, as the head of the Islamic-Movement, the second mayor of Umm al-Fahem.
The Oslo accords of 09/1993 caused a split in the Israeli Islamic Movement whereby the Northern branch, led by the charismatic Raed Salah opposed the agreement, coherent to the Hamas position, and the Southern branch, led by Sheikh Abdullah Nimer Darwish supported the agreement and led a policy of reaching out to Israel. Nowadays (10/2009) there is a total rift between the two offshoots and Raed Salah is the undisputed radical leader of the so called Northern branch of the Islamic Movement in Israel.
In 2001 Raed Salah was barred from leaving Israel because of his strong ties with other Islamic movements with a Jihadi ideology in the Middle East. In 05/2003 Raed Salah was arrested by the Israeli police and sentenced to two years in jail for raising millions of dollars for Hamas in Jenin, Northern Samaria. Part of the money was used to finance terror attacks in Israel.
Since the breach of the second Palestinian Intifada (uprising) in 10/2000 the Northern branch of the Islamic Movement adopted a very radical approach under the religious slogan “Al-Aqsa is in danger”..
The Northern branch of the Islamic movement is able to mobilize, in any given moment, dozens of thousands of Muslim youngsters to provoke unrest in Jerusalem whenever Sheikh Raed Salah pleases so. Between 30 up to 60 thousand people take part n the annual meetings of the Northern Branch of the Islamic Movement, since 2000, in Umm El Fahem each year under the slogan “Save al-Aqsa”.
Sheikh Raed Salah, a father of eight, was several times stopped for questioning by the Israeli police, generally after provoking yet another round of unrest in Jerusalem over the issue of al-Aqsa Mosque.
On 05/31/2010 Sheikh Raed Salah was among over 700 so called "peace activists" on a humanitarian aid flotilla, organized by the Turkish IHH - Charity, to Gaza Strip. When Israeli naval commando boarded the ship he grabbed a hand gun from one of the soldiers and shot him in the belly, a provocation which led to the death of 9 activists in the violence which followed. Sheikh Raed Salah was, therefore, arrested and is now facing a long judicial procedure
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