Historical Newspapers of South Carolina

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U.S. deal would free Arafat from seige BY SUSAN SEVAREID THE ASSOCIATED PRESS JERUSALEM — Israel and the Palestinians approved a U.S. plan Sunday that would free Yasser Arafat from his besieged West Bank headquarters and place six men wanted by Israel in a Palestinian jail under the watch ful eyes of American and British guards. Israel’s Cabinet adopted President Bush’s proposal in a 17 9 vote. Senior Arafat aides said the Palestinian leader also accepted the plan, which ultimately would free him from the sights of Israeli snipers crouched in the buildings around him. Arafat’s compound has been under a monthlong Israeli siege and he has not been able to travel freely since December. “We expect the siege imposed on President Arafat’s office to be lifted the day after tomorrow,” said Palestinian Information Minister Yasser Abed Rabbo. He said “technical details” would be discussed Monday with British ex perts. Accepting the plan, according to an Israeli Cabinet minister, was important to avoid angering the United States oyer another Cabinet decision: Ministers de cided to bar for now a U.N. fact finding mission from investigat ing allegations surrounding Israeli army actions in a West Bank refugee camp. After seven hours of Cabinet discussion, Communications Minister Reuven Rivlin briefed re porters, saying the United Nations had reneged on agreements with Israel. The team’s composition and intentions, he said, made it in evitable that Israel would be un justly blamed. “This awful United Nations committee is out to get us and is likely to smear Israel and to force us to do things which Israel is not prepared even to hear about, such as interrogating soldiers and offi cers who took part in the fight ing,” he said. “No country in the world would agree to such a thing.” U.N. chief Kofi Annan hoped Israel would reverse its decision at a Cabinet meeting Monday. Bush heralded “a hopeful day” after brokering the deal to end the Ramallah siege. Bush renewed his demand that all parties in the conflict — the Israelis, Palestinians and Arab neighbors — meet their “respon sibilities” to help end the conflict, but imposed special demands on Arafat. “Chairman Arafat should now seize this opportunity to act deci sively in word and in deed against terror directed at Israeli citizens,” Bush said. “He hasn’t earned my respect. He must earn my respect by leading.” Bush’s compromise plan would allow Arafat to travel in the Palestinian territories. Until the deal, Israel had said it would not allow Arafat out of his shell-shat- , tered West Bank compound until it had custody of the six wanted men inside with him. Five of the six were wanted in connection with the October assassination of Israeli Tourism Minister Rehavam Zeevi. The sixth was ac cused of trafficking arms from Iran to the Palestinian territories. Bush’s proposal, according to Israeli officials, would have Israel standing by its “legitimate de mand” that the six wanted men be handed over to Israel. But as long as British jailers and American representatives ensure they re main imprisoned, they apparently could stay in an isolated jail in Palestinian territory. Asked how long they would re main jailed, Sharon spokesman Arnon Perlman responded: “I think they will remain in prison unless they are extradited to Tcraol ” Four of the six were convicted last week in a hastily convened, one-session Palestinian court and received sentences of one to 18 years; the two others have yet to stand trial in any court. The Palestinians had arrested the six and were holding them at a prison in Arafat’s compound before the Israeli incursion. They were moved into Arafat’s offices to keep them out of Israeli hands. Abed Rabbo said the plan cov ers wanted men convicted by Palestinian courts. Bush called Sharon on Saturday to propose that U.S. and British nonmilitary personnel guard the six, U.S. officials said. On Sunday night, U.S. and British consular officials met with Arafat in his Ramallah headquarters to convey the plan directly to the Palestinian leader. Israel has kept Arafat confined to the compound since early December, aside from a few brief trips into the city of Ramallah. However, he has not been able to leave his office building since the March 29 incursion into the West Bank aimed at dismantling Palestinian militias behind deadly attacks on Israelis. Dozens of Palestinian gunmen have been killed, including some on Israel’s most-wanted list, and more than 1,500 Palestinians remain in Israeli custody. Invasion CONTINUED FROM PAGE 1 It weis not clesir if the incursion marked a full invasion of the city, the only main West Bank popula tion center that escaped Israel’s large-scale military push that be gan March 29. Israeli troops also bypassed the desert oasis town of Jericho during their sweep. Moving in force in response to a series of deadly Palestinian sui cide bombing attacks, Israeli troops took control of the other main cities and fought house-to house battles in the Jenin refugee camp and the old city of Nablus. The fighting ended two weeks ago, and Israeli forces withdrew from most of the towns. In the Monday incursion, which began at 4:30 a.m., Israeli troops moved about 11/2 miles into Hebron and appeared to be concentrating on two specific ar eas, the witnesses said, indicating that the object was to make ar rests. However, they said, it was the largest Israeli military move on the town in months. On Thursday, about 20 Israeli tanks and armored vehicles en tered Hebron briefly to arrest sus pected militants. In that opera tion, Ahmed Bashir, a member of the Force 17, an elite security unit, was killed and at least four Palestinians were wounded, Palestinians said. The incursion came as Israel’s West Bank push, its largest mili tary operation in two decades, ap peared to be drawing to a close. Israeli forces had withdrawn from Palestinian towns, except Bethlehem, where a standoff at the Church of the Nativity con tinued, and Ramallah, where Israeli troops continued to lay siege to Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat’s office. However, on Sunday, both Israel and the Palestinians ac cepted an American compromise plan aimed at ending Israel’s blockade of Arafat’s office, and ne gotiations continued toward re solving the deadlock in Bethlehem. l ' ' Abuse policy for clergy delayed National policy won’t be decided until Catholic bishops meeting BY KEN MAGUIRE THE ASSOCIATED PIIESS BOSTON — Cardinal Bernard Law said Sunday that the cre ation of a national policy on sex ually abusive priests would have to wait until a Catholic bishops conference, dashing hopes for im mediate action stemming from the recent summit of cardinals. “As a group of cardinal arch bishops, we were able to say that there were certain things that we felt we would like to bring to that June meeting," Law told the con gregation at the beginning of Mass at Boston’s Cathedral of the Holy Cross. “We were not there to make decisions." Cardinals across the country are reporting back after a two-day gathering in Rome, where they agreed they would recommend a process to defrock any priest who has become “notorious and is guilty of the serial, predatory sex ual abuse of minors." During the short statement, Law did not address calls for his resignation. But he referred to himself and his fellow priests as “wounded healers." “These are not easy days to serve in the pastoral role that is mine," Law said during the spe cial Mass dedicated to hope and healing. “All of us are wounded heal ers," he said. “And when we re member that, we are able to be the people that we should be... When we are not that, we degen erate into anger and division. And that’s not who we are. That’s not who God calls us to be.“ Law also called for a special day of prayer about the sexual abuse crisis, to be held during the Pentecostal celebrations, which start May 10. Appearing on morning news shows Sunday, U.S. cardinals who attended the Vatican meet ing last week indicated there still was no agreement on whether clergymen accused of sexual abuse should be expelled from the priesthood. Speaking on “Fox News Sunday," Cardinal Theodore McCarrick of the Washington Archdiocese said he supported ousting any priest accused in the future but said the cardinals were divided about whether the policies should apply to past al legations. Cardinal Francis George of Chicago said there still needs to be some discussion on the “one strike and you’re out“ approach. Speaking on NBC’s “Meet the Press," he said “mandated sen tences" may not be the answer and that cardinals needed some discretion. The U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops, at its June meeting in Dallas, is expected to vote on whether to approve a na tional policy that will be binding on every diocese. The sex abuse scandal began enveloping the church in January after revelations that the Archdiocese of Boston had shuttled now-defrocked priest John Geoghan from parish to parish despite repeated allega tions that he was a pedophile. Geoghan has been accused of abusing more than 130 children, and is serving a nine- to 10-year prison sentence for abuse. The calls for Law’s resignation increased this month with the re lease of 1,600 archdiocese docu ments that reveal the Rev. Paul Shanley’s involvement with the North American Man-Boy Love Association. In civil lawsuits, the former “street priest" has been charged with repeatedly raping young boys during his tenure at a Newton parish in the 1980s. Law has denied that his resig nation was discussed at the Vatican and, through a spokes woman, said he will not be leav ing the archdiocese prior to a scheduled June 5 deposition in a civil suit filed by one of Shanley’s alleged victims. About two dozens protesters picketed outside the Boston Cathedral Sunday in rainy, cold weather. To enter the church, parishioners had to find their way through the protesters, po lice and the media. “They don’t see the good side of Cardinal Law," said Brother James Curren of the Little Brothers of St. Francis in Roxbury, a Catholic order. “A lot of people have made mistakes in judgment. No one defends the priests who committed sins.” Tornadoes hit parts of Tenn., Kv. Wind, rain, hail wreck homes, kill one during night storms (AP) — Tornadoes battered parts of Tennessee and Kentucky on Sunday, destroying homes and sending people to hospitals. One man was killed when his home was destroyed by non-tor nado wind. The tornados were part of a powerful storm system that swept across the Tennessee and Ohio valleys during the night with heavy rain, large hail and high wind. Tornadoes touched down in the Middle Tennessee counties of Rutherford and Cannon at about 7:30 a.m., emergency officials said. At least 10 people were in jured in Rutherford County and an undetermined number of homes were damaged, emergency officials said. In Cannon County, “the last re port was three homes destroyed — two trailers and a log home," said emergency management di rector Faye Morse said. No in juries were reported. It wasn’t clear if the tornado was the same one that touched down in Rutherford County. When the storms crossed west ern Kentucky, straight-line wind destroyed a house at Irvington and killed a man who lived there, said Barry Hart, director of Breckinridge County Emergency Management. A woman found in the wreckage was taken to a hos pital, he said. Seven people in Irvington were taken to a local hospital and two of them had to be flown to University Hospital in Louisville for treatment of serious injuries, Hart said. The Kentucky storms hit around 4 a.m., when most people were asleep, said Ray Bowman, a spokesman for the state Division of Emergency Management. “That’s probably why we have more injuries than we usually do, because it’s hard to alert people at that hour," he said. Some 15 people were hospital ized at the town of Providence, Bowman said. Along with the straight-line wind damage, tornados were re ported elsewhere in Kentucky, downing power lines, trees and damaging homes. Bomb in Russian market kills 7, injures 45 Interior minister calls bombing ‘terrorist act ’ BY YURI BAGROV THE ASSOCIATED PRESS VLADIKAVKAZ, RUSSIA - A bomb tore through a market crowded with people buying flow ers to place on relatives’ graves Sunday, killing seven people and injuring 45, officials said. Large pools of blood mixed with metal and concrete frag ments and the petals of flowers stained the market in the south ern city of Vladikavkaz as inves tigators swarmed the area to look for clues. Kazbek Dazntiyev, the region’s interior minister, said the bomb contained an estimated 18 ounces of TNT and that its effects were magnified by being placed in a sturdy iron pipe. “It was a terrorist act," he said. The bombing was the latest in a series of market blasts that have killed about 70 people in this city over the past three years. Vladimir Kravchenko, head of the northern Caucasus prosecu tor’s office, speculated that the blast might have been set off to destabilize the region during Sunday’s presidential elections in the neighboring republic of Ingushetia. Bombings are also a frequent technique of criminals warring for control of enterprises in Russia. Lev Dzugayev, head of the re gional presidential administra tion, said seven people were killed and 45 were wounded, 10 of whom remained hospitalized Sunday night. The market was crowded with people preparing for the Orthodox Palm Sunday ritual of purchasing flowers and pussy willows to place on relatives’ graves. In November, an explosion at another outdoor market on the outskirts of Vladikavkaz killed five people and injured 60. Another market bombing in Vladikavkaz in 2000 killed six people and more than 50 died in a 1999 bombing in the city. Vladikavkaz is located in the republic of North Ossetia some 950 miles southeast of Moscow. North Ossetia borders on the breakaway republic of Chechnya, where Russian troops have been battling rebels for 21/2 years. I-1 Staying in Columbia this summer? Come write, design or take pictures for The Gamecock. Call 777-3914 for more information. Don't let anything derail your college education! Affordable Birth Control P Planned Parenthood 803-256-4908 Qo/Vhtll AN HISTORIC RESIDENCE Efficiency $485 One Bedroom $545 Two Bedroom $580 Rent includes all utilities and cable TV. All rates quoted are month to month. 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