Israeli forces arrest senior Al-Aqsa Mosque official 

Israeli forces arrested a prominent Al-Aqsa Mosque official on Friday. 

Najeh Bkeirat, the deputy director of the Islamic Waqf, was detained from the occupied West Bank city of Bethlehem, according to local media. 

Israeli authorities had banished Bkeirat from his hometown of Jerusalem earlier this year for a period of six months and banned him from entering Al-Aqsa Mosque. 

The Islamic Waqf, or religious endowment, is a Jordanian-appointed organisation in charge of the control and management of Islamic sites in Jerusalem, including the Al-Aqsa Mosque.