Ramallah - Ma'an - The Secretariat of the Fatah Revolutionary Council condemned on Wednesday the Israeli authorities ban on senior Palestinian Authority (PA) official Hatem Abdul Qader from entering the Al-Aqsa Mosque in the Old City of Jerusalem.

In a news release, the Secretariat said the decision to prohibit Abdul Qader, Fatah's Jerusalem affairs chief, from coming within 150 meters of the Al-Asqa Mosque compound was proof of a "racist" Israeli occupation. The statement called the move part of a policy aimed at keeping Palestinians away from Jerusalem.

The Secretariat appealed to the international community and European delegations visiting Jerusalem to intervene and end discrimination against Palestinians. The statement made extensive reference to Israel’s demolition and evictions program targeting Palestinian families in East Jerusalem.

Israeli media reported on Monday that Abdul Qader had been banned from the Al-Aqsa Mosque for six months. The report said he had also been summoned to the Jerusalem Police Headquarters and served an administrative order signed by head of the Israeli army’s Home Front Command, Major General Yair Golan.

Abdul Qader was arrested by Israeli authorities three times in recent months during Palestinian demonstrations at the Mosque, Islam’s third holiest site, amid Israeli intrusions into the area.

The Haram Ash-Sharif compound which contains the mosque is a focal point of Palestinian nationalism. Right-wing Israeli groups also lay claim to the area, causing tension. A visit by Israeli opposition leader Ariel Sharon to the compound in September 2000 sparked the second intifada, dubbed the Al-Aqsa Intifada.