A PA politician accused the Palestinian singer of performing in front of “settlers and prostitutes” in response to a concert attended by Arabs in the Israeli city of Ariel.
By United With Israel Staff
The Palestinian Authority arrested a Palestinian singer for performing in an Israeli park in Samaria.
The Jerusalem Post reported on Monday that the musician, whose name has not been disclosed, performed at a party for Palestinian employees at an Israeli factory in the Ariel Industrial Zone.
A source told the Jerusalem Post that the party was organized by the factory’s owners, but was not attended by any of the Jewish employees. The report didn’t indicate when the party was held, when the singer was detained, or the name of the factory. But the singer was said to be from the nearby Palestinian village of Kafr ad-Dik.
More than 40 factories and businesses operate in the Ariel Industrial Park, which is located between the Ariel settlement and the larger Barkan Industrial Park. The two industrial zones combine for thousands of jobs for Palestinians and Jews alike.
The PA Governor of the Salfit district, Abdullah Kmeil, accused the singer of performing in front of “settlers and prostitutes,” while slamming normalization with Israel.
“Unfortunately, while we work day and night in order to preserve our lands from confiscation by settlers, and while thousands of martyrs and more than a million wounded were sacrificed for our land, in addition to more than a million prisoners – and while we stand with full force against normalization and 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 in a statement.
The governor added that he was “shocked” by Palestinian appeals for the performer’s release.
“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 normalization with the murderous settlers,” Kmeil warned.