As Israel heads toward national elections next week, Prime Minis ter Benjamin Netanyahu trails Labor party leader Ehud Barak in the opinion polls. Mr. Netanyahu's campaign has grown increasingly disorganized. He has pleaded with former Likud Party loyalists to come back, shifted themes in mid-course and, reportedly, even conceded defeat to close associates. In a final gambit, the government has played the Jerusalem card, hoping that an uproar would strengthen Mr. Netanyahu's hand. To their credit, the Palestinians have not taken the bait.

Israel claims all of Jerusalem as its capital. Palestinians say that East Jerusalem, seized by Israel from Jordan in the 1967 war, is their natural capital. Claims to the city transcend mere politics. Since Jerusalem is home to Jewish, Christian and Muslim holy sites, a dispute over control or access would reverberate far beyond the Middle East.

Earlier this month, Israel's government ordered the closure of Palestine Liberation Organization offices in East Jerusa lem. It argued that the offices were run by the Palestinian Authority, not the PLO, and were therefore a violation of the Oslo accords. Israel's High Court stayed the order until after the May 17 election. The decision averts violence that security officials anticipated upon enforcement of the order and denies the government a controversy on the eve of the polls. PLO offi cials have reacted cautiously: It was left to Israeli peace activists to challenge the closure order.