Gilad Erdan, the Public Security and Strategic Affairs Minister, signed an extension of the order preventing the activity of the Palestinian Authority (PA) in east Jerusalem on Thursday, based on a recommendation by the Shin Bet and the Israel Police.
The order limits the activities of Orient House, a building located in east Jerusalem that served as the headquarters of the Palestine Liberation Organization in the 1980s and 1990s. It also limits the operations of the east Jerusalem Chamber of Commerce, the Supreme Council for the Arab Tourism Industry, the Center for Palestinian Studies, the Palestinian Prisoner Club and the Ministry for Social and Statistical Studies, all of which are affiliated with the PA.
“The extension of the closure of these Palestinian institutions is a message to the Palestinian Authority and the residents of east Jerusalem that the State of Israel does not intend to relinquish in any way its sovereignty over east Jerusalem and will not allow any foothold in the capital,” Erdan said on Thursday.
He noted that the PA has recently been trying to strengthen its presence in east Jerusalem, including transferring significant amounts of funding to support activities there. Intelligence and police forces are constantly working to trace and stop these transfers.
“I will continue to strengthen Israeli sovereignty and sovereignty throughout Jerusalem, and prevent any Palestinian attempt to establish a foothold in the eastern part of the city,” Erdan said.
Specifically, the order prevents organizations from carrying out any activities on behalf of the PA in east Jerusalem, in accordance with Section 3a of the Implementation of the Israeli-Palestinian Interim Agreement on the West Bank and the Gaza Strip. This law also prohibits the PA from opening or operating a representative office within the boundaries of the State of Israel, and authorizes the Minister of Public Security to stop an order to carry out such activity.
“Any attempt by the PA to gain a foothold in the territory of the State of Israel will be stopped immediately,” said Erdan. “We will continue to act so that other countries in the world will recognize Jerusalem as the capital of Israel and express this in practice by transferring their embassies to Jerusalem.”The United States moved its embassy to Jerusalem in May, 2018, followed shortly thereafter by Guatemala and Paraguay, the latter of which shuttered the move and returned to Tel Aviv in September.