The Israeli police on Monday closed down an official Palestinian media center that had been set up in East Jerusalem for the visit of Pope Benedict XVI, as Israel and the Palestinians competed to exercise authority in the contested part of the city.
As the pope arrived in Jerusalem, each side accused the other of exploiting his visit for political gain. Though the pope’s movements have been carefully choreographed to avoid obvious political minefields, every step and word was bound to be closely scrutinized.
Israel captured East Jerusalem from Jordan in the 1967 war and annexed the territory containing some of the holiest sites for Christians, Muslims and Jews. The annexation was never recognized abroad.
Israel has hoped to fend off any open challenge to its rule over Jerusalem during the pope’s visit, while Palestinian officials said they were worried that the pope would be put into situations that implied de facto acceptance of the Israeli annexation. The Palestinians want East Jerusalem to be the capital of a future Palestinian state.
The Palestinian media center was closed on the order of the Israeli minister of internal security, citing a clause in a 1994 law banning all activity of the Palestinian Authority in Jerusalem or elsewhere “in the state of Israel.” Official Palestinian activities in Jerusalem have been similarly barred in the past.
Rafiq Husseini, the chief of staff to Mahmoud Abbas, the Palestinian president, said Israel was trying to keep the Palestinians’ “mouths shut about how the city has been occupied and is still occupied.” He said the Palestinians were determined to “ensure that the pope understands he is coming to an occupied city.”
Mr. Husseini was speaking at a hastily assembled news conference in the mainly Palestinian Sheikh Jarrah neighborhood of East Jerusalem, after the closing of the media center in the nearby Ambassador Hotel. The Israeli police stood by, but did not interfere.
“However many flags” the Israelis put up around East Jerusalem, that “does not give Israel any sovereignty over it,” Mr. Husseini said.
He was referring to the Israeli flags flying with Vatican flags along the routes the pope was expected to travel, including in East Jerusalem.
Yigal Palmor, a spokesman for the Israeli Foreign Ministry, said in response that it was “really sad to see how some Palestinians will do anything to politicize this visit.”
The visit, he said, “would contribute a lot more to peace if it were taken for what it is — a pilgrimage for peace and unity.”
Mr. Palmor rejected Palestinian accusations that Israel was trying to use the pope’s presence to bolster its claim over East Jerusalem, calling them “ridiculous.”
“Nowhere during this visit will the pope be required to do something that he or the Vatican is not comfortable with,” he said.
The Rev. Peter Madros, an adviser to the Latin Patriarchate in Jerusalem, told reporters that “East Jerusalem is not Israel.”
Asked whether he condemned the closing of the media center, he said the Vatican “does not have to condemn every single Israeli action,” otherwise it would have to issue condemnations “every other day.”
Palestinian Christians now make up only about 2 percent of the population of Jerusalem, and are vastly outnumbered by the city’s Muslims and Jews. Many Christians here identify strongly with the Palestinian national struggle.
The Palestinian media center held its first event at the Ambassador Hotel on Sunday, distributing background material for the papal visit and hosting a news conference whose speakers included Mr. Husseini and the Palestinian Authority’s tourism minister, Khouloud Daibes.
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