Скачать или смотреть ISRAEL: JERUSALEM: CLOSURE OF PLO HQ ORIENT HOUSE LATEST

(11 May 1999) English/Nat

After hours of tense negotiation, no deal was reached on Monday between the Israeli and Palestinian officials over the closing of the P-L-O headquarters in Jerusalem, the Orient House.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu wants to shut down the complex, and three hours after the negotiating deadline ordered the building closed.

Palestinian leaders accuse Netanyahu of taking this step for political gain in the upcoming election and fear police action to enforce the closures at Orient House could trigger civil unrest.

Under interim peace agreements, the Palestinian Authority cannot operate in Jerusalem before the city's status is ultimately resolved, but the Palestinians deny Orient House has any such links.

Hours of efforts between Orient House officials and Minister of Public Security Avigdor Kahalani failed to find a compromise in the Orient house crisis in Jerusalem Monday.

Three hours after a 7 P-M negotiating deadline, the orders were served to the Orient House lawyer Jawad Boulous.

With just a week to go until Israeli elections, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has moved toward a confrontation with the Palestinians, ordering the closure of three offices in the P-L-O headquarters in Jerusalem.

Netanyahu wants to shut down the complex, but Public Security Minister Avigdor Kahalani has proposed a compromise.

Under the Kahalani plan, two of the three offices would be moved to the West Bank, but Husseini's office would remain in place.

Boulous returned to Kahalani's office after the deadline with a counter-proposal which was apparently rejected by the Israelis.

An official close to Husseini said the sticking point between the sides remained an Israeli demand that
Husseini not receive ambassadors and foreign dignitaries at Orient House.

Israel says such meetings violate peace agreements.

Under interim peace agreements, the Palestinian Authority cannot operate in Jerusalem before the city's status is ultimately resolved.

Palestinians rejected the demand, arguing that Husseini is a representative of the P-L-O and not Arafat's Palestinian Authority.

Palestinian leaders angrily denounced Israel's plan saying that if they tried to forcible close the offices, there would be large scale riots.

SOUNDBITE: (English)
"So we are here we are discovering the situation. We are putting all the scenarios, all the options, and tomorrow there will be, we will be ready for any kind of options."
SUPER CAPTION: Faisal Husseini, P-L-O official

The chief P-L-O negotiator Saeb Erekat put the blame squarely on Israeli President Netanyahu shoulders, saying he had not acted in good faith with the Palestinians.

SOUNDBITE: (English)
"Unfortunately Mr. Netanyahu, within the past three or four months has been transferring the Palestinian people to enemies, been courting settlers and other extremists in Israel, Palestinians have seen nothing but expansion of settlements, building new settlements, confiscation of land, demolition of homes."
SUPER CAPTION: Saeb Erekat, P-L-O Negotiator

He added that the increasing tension could erupt into more conflict.

SOUNDBITE: (English)
"It is very obvious that if you add up everything it calculates to one thing.
R: What ?
Confrontation and friction, and he, and he alone will bear the responsibilities of the consequences."
SUPER CAPTION: Saeb Erekat, P-L-O Negotiator

Palestinian officials also claim that the closure was a political tactic employed by Netanyahu before the elections next week.


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