Using the Beit Jala raid as decoy, Israelis stripped Palestinian office

Orient House is in solitary confinement. Both ends of the street which runs in front of the graceful 19th century stone mansion are blocked by tall concrete slabs.

Armed Israeli soldiers lounge in the sun. The only people admitted to the compound are staff and visitors to the offices of American Near East Refugee Aid (ANERA). On the first floor landing, I found a huge portrait of the late Mr Faisal Husseini, the founder of the Arab Studies Society, crumpled outside the door. Over the past 20 years, this modest research facility became the Palestinians' leading institution. On the night of August 9th, Israel occupied, searched and sealed the Society's offices.

Their contents remained undisturbed until August 27th, when Mr Thomas Neu, ANERA's local representative, found 20 armed Israelis in the compound. The owner of the building, Mr Taher Husseini, asked Mr Neu, a US citizen, if he would legally witness Israel's seizure of the offices.

Mr Neu told The Irish Times: "The Israelis took handfuls of documents and put them into boxes. They also took the hard disk drives from the computers . . . This was a major, systematic raid." Mr Neu called the US Consulate and European diplomatic representatives. "The Israelis paid no attention, they clearly did not mind." He was told that world attention was focused on Israel's military re-occupation of Beit Jala.

The next night, a "new crew came" with a lorry. "Some were armed, some were police. It seems they had a second order from the municipality to seize the assets of the Arab Studies Society because the property tax had not been paid." The lorry drove away at first light on the 29th, just as the army pulled out of Beit Jala.

"This is the second time the files of the Society have been taken," said Mr Neu. "The first was in 1988." But this time the Israelis have taken much more: records on Palestinian property holdings and rights in Jerusalem and elsewhere and "highly sensitive documents" relating to the late Mr Husseini's role as ombudsman.

"He mediated in marital disputes and family quarrels over land," said Mr Neu. "The records of many Palestinian non-governmental bodies were stored here, including those of the Jerusalem Committee for the Prevention of Drug Abuse. People are afraid about how much the Israelis will learn about their personal problems. There were also the Palestinian files on the [secret] backchannel negotiations [with Israel, providing the Israelis with information on Palestinian positions on fundamental issues. The Society was putting down the roots of Palestinian civil society in Jerusalem. It will take years to recover."