JERUSALEM – Palestinians celebrated with firecrackers yesterday as Israel’s high court ordered the government to delay closing PLO offices in Jerusalem until after next week’s national elections.
The decision averted what was expected to be a violent confrontation between police carrying out the closing order and Palestinians and their liberal Jewish supporters.
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said the PLO was conducting diplomacy in the offices of Orient House, violating agreements with the Israelis not to act like a government in Jerusalem until the future of the city is resolved by negotiations.
But Jewish peace groups appealed to the court, claiming the closing order was motivated by Netanyahu’s bid to be re-elected next week.
They asked the justices to delay the order until legal arguments could be heard by the court.
Faisal Husseini, the senior Palestinian representative in Jerusalem, did not take part in the appeal because the PLO does not want to acknowledge that an Israeli court has authority over Jerusalem.
But he – and the U.S. State Department – hailed the ruling.
“It appears that a confrontation has been avoided, and we welcome that,” spokesman James Rubin said in Washington.
Foreign Minister Ariel Sharon said the government would respect the court ruling but added, “What is regrettable is that Jews sided with those who are seeking to undermine Jewish sovereignty over Jerusalem.”
Netanyahu trailed Labor Party challenger Ehud Barak by 7 to 9 percentage points in polls reported yesterday.
Yedioth Achronoth, Israel’s leading newspaper, said Barak’s American strategist, James Carville, had arrived for the final week of the campaign.
“Victory is at hand,” Carville was quoted as saying. “But there is still one week to go – and in Israel one week is like two years. Anything can happen.”