Israel jails cleric for inciting Al- Aqsa violence

An Israeli court yesterday ordered the jailing of a firebrand cleric whose Islamist group has been accused of inciting a wave of violence over Jerusalem's Al-Aqsa mosque compound.

Raed Salah, the head of the radical northern wing of the Islamic Movement in Israel, was found guilty on appeal of inciting violence at the holy site in a 2007 speech.

However he has also been on the government's radar for stoking current tensions over the compound that has led to a wave of anti-Israeli knife attacks, shootings and violent protests. The violence has seen 56 Palestinians and one Israeli Arab shot dead, about half of them alleged attackers.