Jerrold Kessel: Taking Orient House 'remarkable turning point'

Jerrold Kessel reporting from Jerusalem

CNN Correspondent Jerrold Kessel is in Jerusalem following the devastating events there. He says the Israeli government's response to Thursday's suicide bombing marks a dramatic turn in relations between Israelis and Palestinians.

Q. Was the Israeli government's decision to seize Orient House, the unofficial Palestine Liberation Organization headquarters in Jerusalem, a significant act?

KESSEL: Yes. It is a remarkable turning point. For the last 11 months, the Al Aqsa Intifada has been punctuated by dramatic shifts. We have just seen a double-barreled shift. A suicide bomber managed to get through Israeli security, to strike and get through in such a devastating way that in the heart of Jerusalem 15 people, many of them children, are killed.

Sharon's aides are saying the response was "moderate." They note there were no Palestinian casualties. There was some military action, but the really dramatic and potentially explosive action taken by Israel was the political action -- the seizing of Orient House.

The assault by the military coupled with the political action almost stops any chance of ending the violence or resuming negotiations.

It is no accident that Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon made this strategic political move. The right wing in Israeli politics has clamored for the government to shut down Orient House for years, but no Israeli prime minister ever did it because of the symbolic importance of that building to Palestinian aspirations.

For example, Benjamin Netanyahu, Sharon's rival in the Israeli Likud movement, promised during his time in the prime minister's office that he would shut down Orient House. Sharon's move sidelines Netanyahu as the man who made the promise but didn't deliver.

For the Palestinians, Orient House was a touchstone. It said there is a Palestinian presence in Jerusalem, which they believe is their right. It said we are here and one day Jerusalem will be the capital of our independent state.

By taking Orient House, by flying the Israeli flag over it, Sharon is saying for the moment, even if we talk we don't talk about this.

Q. If the taking of Orient House represents a shift in Israeli policy, what is Sharon's new policy toward the Palestinians?

KESSEL: The Israelis have contended Palestinian Authority President Yasser Arafat has given terrorist groups the green light to launch attacks. They accuse him of supporting terrorism to make political gains.

Dore Gold, one of Sharon's closest advisers, has said that if Arafat continues to support terrorism, not only will Israel prevent the Palestinians from making any new political gains, it also will roll back the political gains the Palestinians have already won.

He said this morning: "If the Palestinian Authority continues to support violence, it is important that Israel and the international community make it clear they cannot advance their political agenda, their political goals. Violence will bring about a reversal of Palestinian goals, not an advance."

Q. In recent days, Israeli Foreign Minister Shimon Peres has been saying that Israel ought to make new attempts to open talks with Arafat. This new policy seems to be the opposite of that.

KESSEL: Exactly -- that is the other thing that is so dramatic about this decision -- it cuts off a number of political options. Peres was saying the policy of restraint and targeted attacks wasn't working. He wanted to open a new dialogue with Arafat. If Peres were to go to Arafat today and say let's talk, Arafat would say, "Why? You have shut the door."

The Palestinians are stunned. Under the Oslo accords, which the Israelis signed, Orient House was allowed to operate. Last year, under Prime Minister Ehud Barak, the Israeli Knesset voted to allow the Palestinians to control Abu Dis, the neighborhood where Israeli troops occupied the governor's house last night.

Peres fought Sharon over this decision and lost. At first Sharon called his so-called "kitchen cabinet" together, but he couldn't get the votes for his new policy. That's why late in the day, he called a meeting of his security cabinet. Sharon's support is much stronger there and that's how they got the 9-3 vote with one abstention.

Sources say Sharon actually developed the idea following the July 31 suicide bombing at the Dolphinarium in Tel Aviv. In that bombing 21 people died, but Sharon decided that the time was not right to make a move on Orient House.

Q. What will the response be from Arafat and the Palestinians?

KESSEL: That's very difficult to say. The Israelis say they want him to crack down on terrorism. The United States wants him to honor the U.S.-brokered cease-fire agreement.

This decision by Sharon really puts Arafat in a bind. After the Israeli attack on Nablus, where two Hamas leaders were killed, members of Arafat's Fatah movement said Fatah, Hamas and Islamic Jihad should work in a unified way.

There has even been talk of a unity government. Many of Arafat's key aides oppose that because they believe Hamas would end up in control. But the Israeli actions may push him in that direction.

The Israelis argue that unity is already there. They contend Arafat is the strategist and Hamas and Islamic Jihad are the ones who execute his plans. We don't know what is right, but one thing is certain: If it was difficult for Arafat to move against the militants before, it is much more difficult for him now.

Arafat was going to have a meeting to talk about greater unity. It is likely he will move to put a unified Palestinian face on things.

Israelis fear that one more effect of Sharon's decision will be to bring the intifada to Jerusalem.

Until Thursday's suicide bombing attack in the center of the city, the violence associated with the intifada had been principally outside Jerusalem in areas like Gilo, for example. There had been no major incidents in East Jerusalem. Now many Israelis expect that to change.

One thing is certain: With this move Sharon, the crusty, tough-talking former general has shown he is still a master strategist. In a single move he has changed Israel's relations with the Palestinians, the West, and his own political opponents.

Israelis, and probably the Palestinians, are waiting to see where Sharon is taking them.