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Palestinian Offices in Jerusalem Remain Shut

[AP/Washington Post/Jerusalem Post] Steve Weizman - Israel this month renewed its order to keep closed the Palestinian center known as Orient House and other symbolic buildings that are rallying points for the Palestinians' claims to Jerusalem's eastern sector. "As the PLO Headquarters in the occupied city, the Orient House aspires to develop Arab East Jerusalem as the capital of the emerging Palestinian state," the center's Web site says. Israeli police shut down the institutions in 2001, shortly after the second Palestinian uprising erupted. It has issued orders every six months since then renewing the closure. Israeli police spokesman Micky Rosenfeld confirmed that officers periodically visit Orient House to ensure that it is not being used, citing a law prohibiting Palestinian political activity in the city. The closure has led to a dramatic reduction in anti-Israel activity in eastern Jerusalem, and an increase in security in the Old City, according to Brig.-Gen. (res.) Shalom Harari, a former senior adviser on Palestinian affairs at the Defense Ministry. "Since its closure, the Palestinians have been mourning the loss of Orient House, and say they have lost the center of their revolutionary zeal in Jerusalem." During the Oslo peace process, Orient House acted as "an organizing factor" for riots and demonstrations, Harari said.
2008-02-22 01:00:00
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