The mufti of Jerusalem, fired last week by Palestinian Authority Chairman Mahmoud Abbas, said over the weekend that he had been punished for criticizing Israel and opposing Abbas's policies. Abbas's decision to dismiss the mufti, Sheikh Ikremah Sabri, came shortly after the latter said in a newspaper interview that "Israel did not want peace." Moreover, the decision came after Sabri criticized the international sanctions imposed on the Hamas government and attempts by some Palestinians to bring down the Hamas government. Abbas was also reportedly angered by Sabri's participation in a rally organized in the Galilee two weeks ago by Sheikh Raed Salah's Islamic Movement. At the rally attended by thousands of supporters of the Islamic Movement, Sabri criticized Abbas's decision to hold a referendum on a controversial document drafted by a number of Palestinian prisoners held in Israeli jails.
Abbas decided to appoint Sheikh Muhammad Hussein, director of the Aksa Mosque, as the new mufti. Sheikh Hussein is a less controversial figure than Sabri and is closely associated with Abbas's Fatah party.