Arab Ministers to Meet on Takeover of Palestinian Offices

Published January 13, 2015

Arab information ministers will meet in Cairo on Wednesday to forge a common strategy following Israel's seizure of the Palestinian headquarters in east Jerusalem, the Arab League said.

Arab League Secretary-General Amr Moussa said Sunday the ministers will review the "deteriorating situation in the region," and warned the Arabs will never accept the takeover of Orient House.

"Under these circumstances, we should be prepared for the worst scenario," he said, without elaborating.

Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat will address the meeting and brief the ministers on the latest developments, Moussa said.

Israeli police shut down Orient House in a pre-dawn raid Friday, hours after a Palestinian suicide bomber killed himself and 14 others in a pizzeria in west Jerusalem.

Police hauled down the Palestinian flag from the roof of Orient House and raised the Israeli flag.

Arab governments condemned the move as an Israeli aggression against the Palestinians and called on Israel to withdraw from the building.

The Palestinians have long sought to make east Jerusalem, which Israel captured in the 1967 Mideast war, as the capital of their future state.

Meanwhile, Rep. Gary Ackerman, a New York Democrat, discussed the rising violence with Egyptian Foreign Minister Ahmed Maher. "We came to the same conclusion that most other people come to," he said, "that there must be an end to all violence; that people must get back to the negotiating table."

Ackerman, a member of the House International Relations Committee, also praised Egypt's role in the peace process.

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