Palestinians to strike over Jerusalem demolition .
JERUSALEM 1996-08-27
Palestinian leaders in Jerusalem called on Tuesday for a two-hour strike to protest what they called Israel 's war on Arab East Jerusalem after police demolished a building there .
Israeli police demolished a 10 metre ( yard ) by 20 metre structure in Jerusalem 's Old City they said had been built with funding from the Palestinian self-rule Authority for use as a social club .
Police used a huge crane to lift a bulldozer over the Old City 's walls to reach the building amidst narrow alleys , witnesses said .
Bystanders at the scene said work had begun on the building in 1991 and it had yet to be completed when the Israeli police bulldozed it .
The Palestinian Authority was set up under the 1993 PLO-Israel interim peace deal .
" There has been a call for a general strike between one ( 1000 GMT ) and three o'clock , " Palestinian lawmaker Ahmed Hashem Zighayer told Reuters .
" This is a war that has been declared on us and we want our people to come and see the site where they declared the war . "
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu 's government , which took office in June , has said it will not allow the Authority , set up under a 1993 interim peace deal to control parts of the Gaza Strip and West Bank , to operate in Jerusalem .
Israel 's previous government held the same position but in general turned a blind eye to Palestinian Authority activity in the city .
Tuesday 's demolition came a day after PLO officials said they had bowed to Netanyahu 's demand they close offices in Jerusalem .
They said two of the three offices Israel wanted closed had been shut .
Netanyahu has made closure of the three offices a condition for resuming peace negotiations with the Palestine Liberation Organisation ( PLO ) .
Israel captured Arab East Jerusalem in the 1967 Middle East war and annexed it .
It says it will never cede any part of the city .
Palestinians want East Jerusalem as capital of a future state .
The city is up for negotiation at final peace talks which have yet to resume under Netanyahu .