Earlier, Israeli F-16 fighters fired missiles at a Palestinian police facility in Ramallah. The base was among those evacuated earlier in the evening, and there were no reported casualties from the strikes. ynet reports that Israeli tanks entered Palestinian areas of control in the West Bank, and that Israeli troops concentrated around the city of Jenin, home of yesterday's suicide bomber.

The actions were among those approved by a 9-3 vote following a late night Cabinet meeting to decide on the appropriate response to the Hamas bombing in Jerusalem the previous afternoon. Foreign Minister Shimon Peres and Labor ministers Matan Vilnai and Ephraim Sneh were in the minority. Defense Minister Binyamin Ben-Eliezer joined the majority in supporting the decision. Likud Minister Meir Shitreet abstained. Two ministers who are overseas, Natan Sharansky (Yisrael B'Aliyah) and Eli Yishai (Shas) approved the actions by phone.

Foreign Minister Peres said there was a need to enter negotiations with the Palestinians, warning, "If we don't sit and negotiate with the Arabs they will be a majority here within ten years."

Opposition head Yossi Sarid condemned the Cabinet decision, saying that the move against Orient House was "inflammatory" had no connection to the terror. "No terrorist came from there," he said.

Swift and efficient action takes the Palestinians by surprise
A large contingent of Israeli forces entered the Orient House compound, without significant opposition. They removed the large portrait of Faisal Husseini, the Palestinian leader who died last May in Kuwait, that had been place in the front of the building, and they raised the Israeli flag. Police investigators went through the building, confiscating documents, computers, and weapons. Israeli TV screened pictures of the discovery of pistols and automatic weapons reportedly discovered on the premises. Seven Palestinians present in the compound at the time were brought in questioning by Israeli police.

Orient House, after operating as a hotel for decades, was restored by Faisal Husseini, scion of the aristocratic Palestinian family that owned the structure. He transformed it first into a study center, and then into his political power base. It was considered the unofficial "foreign ministry" of the Palestinian Authority, and frequently served as a place where Palestinians would meet with foreign diplomats and journalists.

Israeli officials repeatedly claimed that Palestinian Authority was not permitted by the Oslo accords to conduct political activities in Jerusalem, and former Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu ordered Orient House temporarily closed in 1997, but the offices soon reopened, although the PA subsequently kep a somewhat lower profile in the use of the facility.

The decision to focus on political steps rather than military actions surprised Israeli observers, and apparently Palestinians too. The message, Likud Minister Danny Naveh told IDF Radio this morning, was to demonstrate that the failure to control terrorism would result in painful losses of control over Palestinian institutions.

Internal Security Minister Uzi Landau visited Orient House Friday morning. He explained the move as an enforcement action designed to deter terrorism. "From the moment we start enforcing the law in Jerusalem and prevent the flying of the Palestinian flag and processions through the streets of the city, we will also be able to limit the terror," he said.

Cabinet secretary Gideon Saar announced after the meeting that the police and military operations were intended "to motivate the Palestinian Authority to carry out its commitments to fight against terror, to fight against violence, and honor the agreements it signed."

An Israeli diplomatic official said the Cabinet also had decided to set up new Israeli police stations in East Jerusalem and to eliminate Palestinian security services operating in the capital.

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