The ban, July 11 -- JERUSALEM - Sheikh Muhammad Hussein, Jerusalem's Grand Mufti and the senior Islamic religious authority in the city, has been barred from entering Al-Aqsa Mosque for one week after Israeli police arrested him following Friday prayers, the Jerusalem Governorate confirmed, citing a sermon in which he prayed for Palestinians killed in Gaza by Israeli forces.

he was first taken into custody, and the prayer itself formed the stated basis for the action. What precisely he said has not been disclosed by Israeli authorities. What is known is that the sermon included prayers for Palestinians killed by Israel's military campaign, a practice Israeli security forces treated as grounds for arrest.

For the Grand Mufti of Jerusalem...