Ramallah (AsiaNews) – The Palestinian National Authority (PNA) has decided to impose restrictions on preachers who deliver Friday sermons. Under the new rules, Muslim clerics preaching in the Occupied Territories must submit their sermons to be vetted by a special PNA bureau.

This will be the first time that such a measure is taken as a way to curb incitement to terrorism by radical Islamic leaders. Preachers who refuse to comply will be unable to deliver their Friday sermons

Professor Mustafa Abu Sway, who teaches at Al-Quds University in Jerusalem, told AsiaNews that it is very likely that Palestinian public officials will prepare a common weekly text for preachers to read at Friday prayers in every mosque in Palestine.

Quoting senior PNA security official, the Jerusalem Post, also confirmed that "preachers will be given speeches prepared in advance by the PNA authorities. Anyone who does not abide by the text will be fired".

The majority of the mosque preachers receive their salaries from the PNA's Ministry of Islamic Wakf Affairs. However, some mosques in the Gaza Strip are controlled by Hamas and Islamic Jihad.

Abu Sway is critical of the veil of conformity that is coming down over Friday prayers. "I believe it is an anti-democratic choice and contrary to freedom of expression".

For the Muslim scholar, such a measure will be "difficult to implement because there are hundreds of mosques". In his view, the sermons' anti-Israeli bent and the incitement to violence are just expressions of resistance.

"Here, there is occupation, and where there is occupation, there is resistance," he said. (LF)