Mayor Foresees Closing of Arabs’ Jerusalem Office

In a move that seemed to signal an early Israeli policy shift by the incoming government, Jerusalem’s mayor said Saturday that he expects Prime Minister-elect Benjamin Netanyahu to move quickly to close the unofficial Palestinian headquarters here.

Mayor Ehud Olmert, a key Netanyahu ally in the right-wing Likud Party, said the new prime minister is likely to follow through on a campaign promise to shutter Orient House, the center of Palestinian political and cultural activity in Jerusalem.

“I believe that this commitment will be fulfilled,” Olmert told Army Radio.

The statement, which seemed likely to heighten anxiety among Palestinians about the future of the Mideast peace process, was greeted with alarm Saturday by a top advisor to Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat.

“This is an unneeded provocation,” said Ahmad Tibi, an Arab citizen of Israel who is Arafat’s advisor on Israeli affairs. “I hope [Netanyahu] will be responsible enough not to follow such radical proposals from his Likud Party.”

Orient House, a graceful 19th century building on a quiet street in mostly Arab East Jerusalem, is a potent symbol to Israelis and Palestinians alike; as the Palestinian leadership’s most visible presence here, it represents the community’s aspirations for control of at least part of this long-disputed city.

The Israeli parliament, or Knesset, has specifically banned all official activities in Jerusalem by the self-governing Palestinian Authority, but foreign dignitaries, ostensibly holding only non-substantive meetings, regularly meet top Palestinian officials at Orient House. The meetings sometimes draw crowds of Israeli protesters angry at the apparent flouting of at least the spirit of Israeli law.

Prime Minister Shimon Peres, the Labor Party leader defeated by Netanyahu in last week’s elections, had resisted calls by Likud leaders to close the building, which serves as the headquarters for Palestinian peace negotiators.

Netanyahu will make his first detailed public comments since the election in a victory speech tonight that is expected to spell out his policies on security and the future of the peace process with the Palestinians and neighboring Arab states.

During the campaign, the Likud leader indicated that he would stop or at least slow the pace of negotiations and strongly criticized Peres’ policy of trading land for peace. Netanyahu pledged instead to make security his top concern, effectively playing to the fears of Israelis shaken by a series of suicide bombings by Islamic militants in February and March that left more than 60 people dead.

Netanyahu said during the campaign that he planned to strengthen Jewish settlements in the West Bank, allow Israeli troops to reenter areas now under Palestinian control and perhaps cancel the planned withdrawal of soldiers from Hebron, the last major West Bank city still under Israeli control.

Tonight’s speech by the 46-year-old Netanyahu, considered Israel’s first “American-style” politician and a master of the sound bite, is timed to coincide with Israeli television’s widely watched evening news programs.

Netanyahu also is expected to begin formal negotiations today on putting together his government coalition with small moderate and religious parties.

Speculation was intense Saturday among political analysts and television commentators about which leading Likud figures might be offered positions in the new government, with hard-line retired Gens. Ariel Sharon and Rafael Eitan among those mentioned.

On Saturday, Netanyahu spent the Jewish Sabbath quietly, visiting with friends and eating lunch with his family at a Jerusalem hotel.

In the Gaza Strip, meanwhile, Palestinian leaders said they will cooperate with the new Israeli prime minister but also expect him to honor commitments made by the Peres government.

In a statement released early Saturday after a lengthy meeting on the results of Wednesday’s vote, members of Arafat’s Palestinian Cabinet appealed to the United States and other nations to redouble their “efforts to push the peace process forward.”