Israeli police briefly arrested prominent Palestinian figure Sheikh Raed Salah after searching his home and office in his hometown of Umm al-Fahm in northern Israel, according to his lawyer on Tuesday.
"Sheikh Salah was released after being questioned for two hours," Khaled Zabarka told Anadolu.
Police raided Salah's home early Tuesday and took him to a police station for questioning.
His lawyer said the raid came one day after Israeli Defense Minister Israel Katz issued an order on Monday "to seize the property of the Spreading Peace Committees" headed by Salah
He said Israeli police also raided the headquarters of the committees in Umm al-Fahm and confiscated property.
According to the lawyer, the committees were founded by Salah to help the Arab community in Israel fight violence and enhance civil peace in the community.
"We are trying to understand the reason behind this Israeli campaign," Zabarka said.
"The Spreading Peace Committees are almost the only body in the Arab community that actively work to fight crime and violence," he added.
The last time Salah was arrested by the Israeli authorities was in 2020 when he spent 17 months in jail and was released in December 2021.
The Islamic Movement in Israel, which Raed founded in 1971, was outlawed by the Israeli authorities in 2015. In recent years, the same authorities have repeatedly arrested him and shut down dozens of organizations, including a number of charities, over their alleged links to his group.
A staunch defender of Palestinian rights, Salah has staged several protests against Israeli policies and campaigned against the expansion of Israeli settlements in the occupied territories as well as in defense of the flashpoint Al-Aqsa Mosque in occupied East Jerusalem.
