Owned by the al-Husseini family, the Orient Houseserved as the headquarters for the
Palestine Liberation Organization in
East Jerusalem. During the Oslo Process, the
Israeli government accused the
Palestinian Authority of functioning out of the Orient Housein an attempt to expand
Palestinian institutions in
Jerusalem. In August 2001,
Israel closed the Orient House, seizing files and computers, including personal books and documents of
Faisal al-Husseini. See the Orient House's
website.