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Al-Ahram Weekly 29 Apr. - 5 May 1999 Issue No. 427 
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Published in Cairo by AL-AHRAM established in 1875 |
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Al-Ahram Weekly 29 Apr. - 5 May 1999 Issue No. 427
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| Published in Cairo by AL-AHRAM established in 1875 |
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Egypt Region International Economy Opinion Culture Profile Focus Special Travel Sports People Features Living Time Out Chronicles Cartoons Letters Netanyahu moves on Orient House
By Sherine Bahaa
Though it is not the first time that Israeli Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu has called for the closure of the century-old Orient House in Jerusalem, now the Likud leader seems adamant to push for a new confrontation with Palestinians ahead of the 17 May general elections.
Israeli police try to push Palestinian demonstrators out of the gates of Orient House in Arab East Jerusalem on Monday (photo: AP)On Monday, Israeli police formally notified Palestinian officials of the government's decision last week to close three of the four offices operating inside Orient House. Israel's so-called security cabinet, a select group of ministers, decided on Thursday to close the three offices, a day after Faisal Al-Husseini, the Palestinian Authority (PA) official responsible for the Jerusalem file, received a group of low-level European diplomats at the disputed house.
Palestinians had 48 hours to appeal the move to Public Security Minister Avigdor Kahalani, who signed the orders. If Kahalani rejects the appeal, the Palestinians are expected to challenge the government in the Israeli courts, a process which could delay the actual closure of the offices for weeks.
Israel had already closed two Palestinian offices in Jerusalem earlier this month as part of Netanyahu's pledge not to allow any presence for President Yasser Arafat's PA in the holy city. Israel claims Jerusalem as its "eternal and united" capital, while Palestinians insist that East Jerusalem is part of the Arab territories occupied in 1967 and have named it as the future capital of their projected independent state.
The Palestinians deny Orient House is an official branch of the PA and note that the building, a private residence owned by Al-Husseini's family, has housed groups representing Arab residents of East Jerusalem since well before the 1993 Oslo Peace Accords which created the PA.
The decision turned up the heat on one of the most volatile issues between Palestinians and Israelis.
"We have held thousands, not just hundreds of diplomatic meetings there, and we used to do that at the time of the former Likud government of Yitzhak Shamir," Hanan Ashrawi, former PA minister, negotiator and human rights activist, told Al-Ahram Weekly in a telephone interview from Jerusalem.
"Its role predates any agreement. It is not a Palestinian Authority office; we have the full right legally, politically and nationally in every possible way to continue work in Orient House as a centre of Palestinian activities in Jerusalem," declared Ashrawi.
Targeted by the closure orders were the office of Al-Husseini, an international cooperation office and a mapping department which charts Jewish settler activity.
Gawad Boulos, lawyer for Al-Husseini and Orient House, said that Netanyahu issued his decision on the pretext that the offices are working in an illegal framework, as "they are maintaining some kind of relationship with the PA".
Under the Oslo Accords, the PA is authorised to operate only in agreed parts of the West Bank and Gaza Strip, leaving the issue of Jerusalem to final status talks. In 1994, the Israeli government introduced a new law banning any PA presence in Jerusalem.
"The situation is really serious and its seriousness stems from the significance of Orient House to Palestinians. Besides, Faisal Al-Husseini's responsibility for the Jerusalem file was assigned by the PLO, not by the PA," declared Boulos.
Ashrawi, who was prevented herself from entering Jerusalem last month, denied that the official Palestinian reaction to the closure orders was mild, and said that it was "highly responsible". "If the reaction was not violent, that does not mean that it is mild. It is not an issue that will go smoothly; we had solidarity and protest meetings. However, it is not the time to have any type of confrontation," Ashrawi said.
Indeed, it is the time factor which looks peculiar, with Israel's insistence on sparking off a complicated dispute over Jerusalem at a time when the Israelis are preparing for their general elections. Also, the Palestinian Central Council started its meetings on Tuesday to reach a decision on whether to declare their state on 4 May.
According to Ashrawi, Netanyahu is obviously trying to exploit the issue of Orient House to create a non-existent issue in order to use it in his election campaign. "It is very clear that the election campaign is geared towards the extremists, right-wingers, settlers and Jewish fundamentalists. Netanyahu is trying to flex his muscles by showing that he can be just as oppressive as anybody when it comes to Palestinian rights by putting the Jerusalem issue high on his political agenda," she said.
Observers see the closure orders as largely symbolic since the offices usually resume their operations from other locations, either in Jerusalem itself or in PA-controlled areas in the West Bank near Jerusalem. However this does not seem to be likely in the case of Orient House which symbolises Palestinian claims to Jerusalem and confirms their existence there as an independent people.
