Police, operating under the orders of Minister of Public Security Uzi Landau, shut down the Jerusalem office of Sari Nusseibeh, packing up and removing the articles inside and changing the locks. Nusseibeh has been serving as PA-leader Yasser Arafat’s representative in Jerusalem. Though his office is said to be part of Al-Kuds University, Landau says that it was used in the service of the Palestinian Authority - in violation of the Oslo Agreements that forbids such activity in Jerusalem.
Israel previously closed the Orient House, PAs headquarters in Jerusalem, following the Sbarro pizzeria suicide bombing last August that claimed the lives of 15 Israelis. US Ambassador to Israel Daniel Kurtzer expressed some opposition to Israel’s decision to close Nusseibeh’s office, noting that he is regarded as a pragmatic moderate. This flies in the face of a recent report by The Media Line’s Michael Widlanski, which states that during the 1991 Gulf War, Nusseibeh contacted Iraqi intelligence officials to help direct the Scud rocket attacks on Israel.
Israel previously closed the Orient House, PAs headquarters in Jerusalem, following the Sbarro pizzeria suicide bombing last August that claimed the lives of 15 Israelis. US Ambassador to Israel Daniel Kurtzer expressed some opposition to Israel’s decision to close Nusseibeh’s office, noting that he is regarded as a pragmatic moderate. This flies in the face of a recent report by The Media Line’s Michael Widlanski, which states that during the 1991 Gulf War, Nusseibeh contacted Iraqi intelligence officials to help direct the Scud rocket attacks on Israel.