PA security forces. Image credit: Stop the Wall, CC BY 2.0, via Wikimedia Commons.
Palestinian Authority security forces arrested a Palestinian singer for performing in the Israeli settlement of Ariel on Monday.
The singer, a resident of Kafr ad-Dik, will be tried on charges of “promoting normalisation with Israel”, sources told the Jerusalem Post.
The singer was invited to perform at a party hosted by an Israeli factory for its Palestinian workforce at the Ariel Industrial Park, Palestinian sources said.
“Contrary to the claims of the PA, settlers did not attend the party”, one of the sources said. “The party was organised by the factory owners for the Palestinian workers”.
Abdullah Kmeil, the PA governor of the Salfit district in the central West Bank, accused the singer of performing in front of “settlers and prostitutes”. The singer was arrested and referred to the Palestinian judiciary.
“While thousands of martyrs and more than a million wounded were sacrificed for our land […] and while we stand with full force against normalisation by any party, we were surprised when one of the popular artists performed in a high-profile concert for the settlers and in front of prostitutes in Ariel”, Kmeil said.
He said he was “shocked” when some Palestinians appealed to the PA security forces to release the singer.
“We strongly warn against repeating such acts that offend our people and their just cause, and we will not have mercy on anyone who deals in any way that implies normalisation”.