Jerusalem Showdown Looms

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu ordered three offices in the PLO's Jerusalem headquarters closed Monday, setting up a showdown with the Palestinians just a week before Israeli elections.

Palestinian leaders and Israeli security officials warned that police action against the headquarters, known as the Orient House, could trigger Palestinian riots.

Netanyahu's critics accused him of trying to provoke the Palestinians to win votes. Netanyahu, who is trailing in the polls, has been trying unsuccessfully to turn the future of Jerusalem into a key campaign issue.

"This could be the start of another uprising," said Arieh Amit, a former Jerusalem police chief.

Earlier this month, Netanyahu's government ordered three departments in Orient House closed, saying they had ties to Yasser Arafat's Palestinian Authority. Under the interim peace agreements, the Palestinian Authority cannot operate in Jerusalem; the city's status is to be determined in future talks.

Israel also demanded that the top PLO official in Jerusalem, Faisal Husseini, stop receiving foreign ambassadors and dignitaries at Orient House.

One of the offices ordered closed is Husseini's. Another ordered closed deals with map-making (including the monitoring of Jewish settlements) and the third handles international relations. The Israelis have not sought the closure of the office dealing with the revocation of residency permits by Israel, the information office, or the office that considers disputes among Palestinian residents of Jerusalem.

Netanyahu's decision came after a U.S. appeal for restraint. "This is an extremely sensitive situation and both sides have a responsibility to defuse it," a U.S. embassy statement said.

Orient House lawyer Jawad Boulos had held several meetings with Israel's minister of public security, Avigdor Kahalani, who reportedly was trying to delay a decision to avoid bloodshed.

Scores of Palestinians have been spending the night in Orient House to defend the former 19th-century hotel in the event of a police raid.

"They may be able to overcome us, but it won't be easy," said Jamal Abordo, an unarmed Palestinian security guard. "They'll be injured, and we'll be injured."

The Palestinians say Orient House has no ties to the Palestinian Authority. They argue that previous governments have left the office alone. It opened during the Palestinian uprising in the late 1980s.

Underlying the dispute is the conflict over Jerusalem. The Palestinians want to establish their capital in east Jerusalem, the sector Israel captured in the 1967 Mideast war. Israel says it will never relinquish control of any part of the city.

Monday, Netanyahu dispatched his personal envoy, Yitzhak Molcho, for talks with Arafat in the West Bank town of Ramallah.

After the meeting, Netanyahu consulted with Kahalani, Foreign Minister Ariel Sharon and Defense Minister Moshe Arns. The four decided to issue the final closure orders.

"The decision was made after all the necessary legal procedures were exhausted, including long and thorough meetings with Orient House representatives," Netanyahu said in a statement.

The Palestinians had indicated some willingness to move toward the Israelis. Husseini said at one point that the Palestinians were ready to transfer parts of two of the offices to Ramallah.

Written by Sari Bashi