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| By: Associated Press |
| Published: December 10, 2004 |
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| Bassam Salhi, 44, is taken away for questioning after trying to enter Jerusalem without a permit. (AP) |
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A long-shot candidate for Palestinian president was detained by Israeli police Friday when he tried to enter Jerusalem to pray at a Muslim holy site and to attend political meetings, Palestinian officials and Israeli police said.
Bassam Salhi, 44, leader of the People's Party -- a small faction formed out of the defunct Palestine Communist Party -- was arrested at the A-Ram roadblock, one of several checkpoints that separate between the West Bank and Jerusalem.
Shmulik Ben-Ruby, a Jerusalem police spokesman, said Salhi was not allowed into Jerusalem because he lacked the proper permits. Salhi attacked a policeman, lightly injuring him, and was taken to a Jerusalem police station for questioning, Ben-Ruby said.
There are 10 Palestinians running for president in a Jan. 9 election. The two front-runners are PLO leader Mahmoud Abbas and Marwan Barghouti, a jailed uprising leader. The rest of the candidates do not have a good chance of winning, according to polls.
Salhi is a resident of the West Bank city of Ramallah and has been arrested by Israel several times in the past. |
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