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JERUSALEM-Israel is keeping Palestinian institutions in east Jerusalem shut tight, despite its pledge to reopen them under a recently revived peace plan, Palestinian officials said Thursday.Israel this month renewed its order to close a leading Palestinian center known as Orient House, the city's Arab Chamber of Commerce and other symbolic buildings that are rallying points for the Palestinians' claims to Jerusalem's eastern sector, the officials said.The fate of east Jerusalem is the most explosive issue facing Israeli and Palestinian peace negotiators, and the closures are the latest area of dispute in the peace talks, relaunched in November after seven years of violence.The two sides have set a December 2008 target for completing a peace agreement, but Israeli construction in disputed areas and continuing Palestinian rocket attacks from the Hamas-controlled Gaza Strip have clouded talks so far.Israel captured the eastern part of Jerusalem-home to sensitive Jewish, Muslim and Christian holy sites-in the 1967 Mideast war and annexed it. The Palestinians want east Jerusalem to be the capital of a future independent state.During peace talks in the 1990s, Israel allowed the Palestinians to operate institutions such as Orient House, an elegant century-old mansion that served as the headquarters of the Palestine Liberation Organization.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.With the resumption of peace talks, the Palestinians say these places should reopen. The U.S.-backed "road map" peace plan, the basis for negotiations, calls on Israel to "reopen the Palestinian Chamber of Commerce and other Palestinian institutions in east Jerusalem."Azzam Abu Saoud, director of the 72-year-old Chamber of Commerce, said the closure order on his offices was extended on Feb. 7."Despite all the expectations the closure order was renewed for another six months," Abu Saoud told The Associated Press. U.S. consular officials asked for copies of the order, which he provided, he said.Officials at the U.S. Consulate declined comment.A similar closure on the Orient House was renewed a few days ago, Palestinian lawmaker Hatem Abdel Khader said, insisting it went against Israeli promises to reopen the site. "This is not a good sign for the peace process," he said.He said U.S. officials told the Palestinians the issue was unlikely to be resolved quickly."They told us they need time to negotiate with the Israelis," he said.Israeli police spokesman Micky Rosenfeld could not confirm the extension of the closure orders. But he confirmed that officers periodically visit Orient House to ensure that it is not being used. He cited a law prohibiting Palestinian political activity in the city."I am not aware of any change in our policy," Olmert spokesman Mark Regev told the AP.When Orient House was shut down, Israel said it would only withdraw if the Palestinian Authority, today headed by Abbas, promised not to operate there. Abdel Khader said the Palestinians had given the necessary assurances.Orient House is owned by the Husseinis, a prominent Palestinian clan in Jerusalem. The scion of the family, the late Faisal Husseini, was the top Jerusalem official of the Palestine Liberation Organization and used the building as his base."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.The road map also states that the Palestinians must dismantle militant groups and that Israel must cease settlement construction in the West Bank.Neither side has met its obligations.Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas said Thursday that he and Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert were still committed to trying to reach a peace agreement by the end of this year, although other Palestinian officials have said the December target is not realistic because talks are proceeding too slowly."Olmert and I are both determined to have these negotiations end by the end of this year,"Abbas said after meeting Romanian Foreign Minister Adrian Cioroianu at his headquarters in the West Bank town of Ramallah."We are going to exert every possible effort to make these negotiations succeed within that time frame."
As in the days of Noah....
