The gamecock. (Columbia, S.C.) 1908-2006, January 26, 2000, Page A5, Image 5
Nation & World
Israel, Palestine accuse each other
of not taking peace talks seriously
|> by Laurie Copans
Associated Press
Jerusalem — With only three weeks
to go before a crucial deadline in the peace
talks, Israel and the Palestinians ac
cused one another Tuesday of not tak
ing the process seriously.
The sides had set Feb. 13 as a dead
line for creating the outline of an agree
ment on the thorniest issues between
them, including borders, Palestinian
refugees, Jewish settlers and the fate of
Jerusalem.
Palestinian negotiator Ahmed Qureia
said that after 21 meetings on the final
^ status talks, nothing had been achieved
and it was unlikely the sides would meet
the deadline.
“I believe it is because the Israelis are
still hesitant to proceed seriously and to
empower the delegation,” Qureia said.
Lead Israeli negotiator Oded Eran has al
so said meeting the Feb. 13 deadline is
unlikely.
Hoping to spur the peace talks, the
Palestinians had proposed a summit in
Davos, Switzerland, this weekend. The
summit was to include Prime Minister
Ehud Barak, Palestinian leader Yasser
Arafat and President Clinton, but the
event appeared unlikely to take place late
Tuesday because Barak has all but rejected
the idea and Clinton never expressed any
interest in it.
Palestinians blamed Israel for what
they called the summit’s collapse, saying
Barak was “hesitant.” That provoked a
strong reaction from Barak’s office, which
said the summit was never seriously con
sidered.
The prime minister hasn’t yet ruled
out traveling to Davos, but preferred that
disputes between the sides be settled on
home turf, said his spokesman Gadi
Baltiansky.
Blaming Barak for the collapse of the
summit “does not demonstrate the seri
ousness needed to ensure the success of
the negotiations,” Baltiansky said in a
statement.
Palestinians want intensive U.S. in
volvement in the process, believing
that Clinton’s eagerness for a rapid reso
lution will lead him to pressure Barak in
to coming around to some Palestinian de
mands.
In another sign the talks were in trou
ble, Arafat said he would declare a Pales
tinian state this year even if differences
with Israel haven’t been worked out.
Arafat has throughout the peace
process used the threat of a unilateral de
claration of statehood to press Israel in
to accelerating talks.
“This year is the year of the Pales
‘This year is the year of
the Palestinian state.’
Yasser Arafat
Palestinian leader
tinian state,” Arafat said in the Gaza Strip
as he returned from talks in Cairo with
Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak.
Senior Palestinian Liberation Orga
nization officials warned earlier this month
that a statehood declaration could con
ceivably come as early as Feb. 2, when
the PLO’s policy-making Central Coun
cil meets.
On Tuesday, Arafat said Palestinian
statehood would be “one of the main
issues” at that meeting.
NATO peacekeepers arrest suspected war criminal
by. Irena Gajic
Associated Press
VlSEGRAD, BOSNIA-HERZEGOVINA—
NATO peacekeepers on Tuesday arrest
ed a suspected war criminal under a U.N.
tribunal indictment, charging him with
“extermination” of Muslim men, women
|and children and other atrocities.
Visegrad Police Chief Vuceta Sipcic
identified the arrested man as Mr tar \hsil
jevic.
A statement from the International
Criminal Tribunal for Yugoslavia in The
Hague, Netherlands, said Vasiljevic was
suspected of “participation in the mass
murder, torture and other cruel treatment
of the Bosnian Muslim population, in
cluding women, children and the elder
ly in and around Visegrad.”
The alleged crimes were committed
between May 1992 and October 1994,
according to the statement. It said Vasil
jevic, 45, was chaiged with “extermina
tion ... of a significant number of Bosn
ian Muslim civilians.”
Detailing one alleged crime, the in
dictment said Vasiljevic participated in
forcing civilians into a house and then
setting it on fire.
“Some people tried to jump out of
the windows, but the other member of
the paramilitary unit stood outside shoot
ing at them while Mitar \hsiljevic (shone)
... a light on the victims,” the statement
said.
A statement issued in Brussels by
NATO Secretary-General Lord Robert
son said Vasiljevic was being processed
for transfer to the war crimes tribunal
in The Hague, Netherlands.
Iowa
from page A4
cuses,” said Gore said.
The Quinnipiac College poll found
Gore and Bradley tied at 44 percent each.
The maigin of error was 5 percentage
points; 371 likely Democratic voters
were surveyed.
Before traveling to Hudson, Bradley
conceded at a raucous campaign rally,
congratulating Gore in terms that made
it clear he intends to soldier on.
“He’s a tough opponent, and I know
I’ll be seeing a lot of him in the coming
weeks,” said Bradley, who aides say plans
to become more critical of the vice pres
ident.
Bradley said he was satisfied with the
result, considering that he started far be
hind and found the Democratic Party
power structure lined up against him.
Looking ahead to New Hampshire,
Gore and Bradley were locked in a tie in
Granite State polls. McCain holds a slight
lead over Bush in most GOP polls there,
and, he hoped to sustain it even after
bypassing Iowa. But Bush is planning
to open a new front against McCain, ar
guing that he has offered bold, new ed
ucation initiatives while the senator has
proposed little in the way of education
reform. The two had been arguing over
tax cuts.
. Seeking to get a jump in New Hamp
shire, Bradley held a noisy, predawn ral
ly at 3:30 a.m. Tuesday morning after ar
riving in Nashua, N.H., where he was
greeted by more than 100 chanting and
cheering backers. “This energy .is going
to carry us all the way,”’ Bradley said.
Among Republicans, the Iowa results
t ■
gave Keyes’ campaign a needed boost.
He hadn’t climbed out of single digits in
any pre-caucus polls, but his fiery ora
tory drew increasingly heavy crowds
in the final days.
Debt
from page A4
Democrats are expected to embrace
the smallest of three projections. That
total, for the 10 years ending 2010,
will be roughly $1 trillion excluding So
cial Security, say congressional aides
speaking on condition of anonymity.
Republicans haven’t decided what
to do, but many of them — including
the Senate Budget Committee chairman,
Sen. Pete Domenici, R-N.M. — seem
likely to endorse a projection totaling
about $2 trillion during the period, aides
said. That is about double what CBO pro
jected last year, a figure that has grown
because of the persistently strong econ
omy.
CBO will also release a third pro
jection which, though arrived at differ
ently, also foresees about $2 trillion in
black ink, aides said.
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