Israel shuts down PA-sponsored event in Jerusalem

Israel is battling Palestinian attempts to gain an official standing in its capital. 

Public Security Minister Gilad Erdan instructed Israel’s police to block the Palestinian Authority (PA) from hosting an event in honor of International Women’s Day at the Saint George Hotel in Jerusalem.

The order covers all PA-funded events inside the sovereign territory of the State of Israel, in accordance with the terms of a 1994 law governing implementation of the second Oslo Agreement, known formally as the Israel-Palestinian Interim Agreement.

The move comes on the heels of increased PA and Hamas attempts to increase their presence in the city by holding events, establishing non-profit organizations and more.

Last month, Erdan extended the closure of Orient House, the eastern Jerusalem mansion owned by the Palestinian-Jerusalemite Husseini family that served during the 1990s as the de facto PA “foreign ministry” until it was shut down by Israeli authorities in August 2001, at the height of the second intifada.

The Oslo Accords prohibit the PA from operating in Jerusalem.

“There is a fight over sovereignty in Jerusalem,” Erdan said. “The PA is trying, time and time again, to call into question Israel’s sovereignty in Jerusalem. I will not allow that to happen. Any attempt by the Palestinian Authority or other groups to establish a foothold inside the State of Israel will be arrested immediately.”

By: Andrew Friedman/TPS