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About Oregon daily emerald. (Eugene, Or.) 1920-2012 | View Entire Issue (June 4, 2001)
Israel tests Palestinian cease fire amid grief By Nicole Winfield The Associated Press JERUSALEM — Israel buried the young victims of a suicide bomb ing and tested a Palestinian cease fire on Sunday, hoping interna tional diplomacy would pressure Yasser Arafat to rein in his troops and crack down on militants. Amid continued Israeli restraint, German Foreign Minister Joschka Fischer held a second meeting with Arafat on Sunday night at Arafat’s West Bank headquarters and urged the Palestinian leader to enforce a cease-fire. “I hope that he understands that now is (the time) to implement se curity action plans within hours and to implement also the cease fire within hours,” Fischer said. “The next hours will be crucial.” Secretary of State Colin Powell, who canceled a trip to Costa Rica to deal with the situation, issued a similar warning to Arafat on Sun day, telling Cable News Network that “this is the time to bring the violence under control.” He wouldn’t confirm Israeli ra dio and television reports that CIA Director George Tenet planned to visit the region, where the EU’s special Middle East envoy, Miguel Moratinos, was already shuttling between the two sides. At a meeting of Israel’s Cabinet on Sunday, Defense Minister Binyamin Ben-Eliezer said Israel would give Arafat more time to carry out the cease-fire, according to an official who requested anonymity. Ben-Eliezer said there had been a reduction in attacks against Israelis since Arafat’s cease-fire order took effect at 10 p.m. Saturday. “Even restraint is part of strength,” Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon said at a hospital where many of the injured were being treated. Senior Israeli officials, however, said they weren’t yet convinced Arafat was willing to call off the eight-month conflict, and said they have chosen the targets for a possi ble offensive. “We really want to get to the per petrators,” said Shlomo Dror, a spokesman for Ben-Eliezer, when asked about radio reports that the army was targeting leaders of the militant groups Hamas and Islam ic Jihad. On Sunday, the military wing of Hamas, Izzedine al Qassam, claimed responsibility for the at tack and identified the bomber as Hassan Hussein Hotari, from the West Bank town of Qalqilya. His family members in Jordan, howev er, identified him as Saeed Hotary, 22. The wing of Hamas called the 22-year-old a hero and a good friend of a suicide bomber who blew himself up on March 28, killing two Israeli children. Hotari’s father, Hassan, said his son left Jordan two years ago for the West Bank to look for a better job. “I am very happy and proud of what my son did and I hope all the men of Palestine and Jordan would do the same,” the father told The Associated Press at his home in Zarqa, Jordan with tears in his eyes. Israel has demanded that as part of his cease-fire, Arafat arrest mili tants and stop incitement against Israel in Palestinian media. However, Palestinian Cabinet minister Ziad Abu-Zayyad said, “We’re not talking about arresting people or putting people in jail.” He said the cease-fire applies to Palestinian police and security in areas under full Palestinian con trol. Since assuming authority in Palestinian parts of Gaza and the West Bank in 1994, Arafat has hes itated to crack down on militant groups, fearing a civil war. From time to time, at Israel’s insistence, Arafat’s police have rounded up militants, but even then bombings have occurred. Israel charges that Arafat has been working hand-in-hand with the militants, and that attacks tend to occur when Arafat signals that they would be tolerated. Despite Arafat’s call for a cease fire, various Palestinian factions, including Hamas, Islamic Jihad and Arafat’s Fatah, concluded after meeting Sunday that the intefadeh should continue, said a Fatah leader in Gaza, Ahmed Helaff. That was reflected in Israeli pes simism as well. A senior security official, speaking on condition of anonymity, said Israel was “just about to launch a very severe airstrike” against the Palestinians which was called off after Arafat ordered the cease fire. But the offi cial predicted the cease-fire would collapse and the plan would be re vived: “I am sure that you will see it. It will happen.” Fourteen of the victims were Legislature aims to cut kicker by $106 million SALEM — The Legislature in the coming week is to take up the hottest of its budget issues, dip ping into and spending money that otherwise would go back to the taxpayers. The Senate will vote first, prob ably by Tuesday, on whether to de crease by about 30 percent the re funds due later this year under the state’s so-called kicker law. The refund requirement “kicks in” when revenue tops an official estimate by 2 percent or more. Revenue in the two-year budget period ending June 30 is above the threshold so that under current projections, $355 million would be refunded. But the Legislature and Gov. John Kitzhaber have designs on $106 million of that. The bill due a Senate vote would shift into the next budget federal Medicaid funds that through a loophole can end up in the state general fund. That maneuver would reduce revenue in the current budget, thus cutting kicker refunds by $106 mil lion and allowing lawmakers to spend the money on education, so cial programs or other uses. Returning the full kicker amount would give an average refund of $137 to taxpayers with annual in comes of $30,000 to $40,000. Re ( { That will establish the pot of money [that's left to close final budget deals]. Dave Nelson senate majority leader R.-Pend!eton yy ducing the kicker with the Medic aid shift tactic decreases their average refund to $98, according to the Legislative Revenue Office. At the $40,000 to $50,000 in come range, the average refund would drop from $187 to $133 un der the bill. In the $50,000 to $60,000 range, the average refund would decline from $238 to $170 under the shrunken kicker. Despite a few expected cries of foul, legislative leaders expect the kicker change to pass both houses. “That will establish the pot of money” that’s left to close final budget deals, said Senate Majority Leader Dave Nelson, R-Pendleton. Associated Press buried Sunday, most of them in a row in the same section of the Yarkon cemetery in Tel Aviv, where fresh dirt was piled up in mounds and tearful mourners moved under the sweltering sun from one plot to another to lay flowers. Among those buried were teen age sisters Yulia and Yelena Nal imov, whose mother had to be held up as she wailed over their coffins, her hands clutching onto the Is raeli flags draped over each one of them. “Only hearts of stone could erase the smiles of Yelena and Yu lia,” Education Minister Limor Livnat said at their funeral. Another child buried was 14 year-old Maria Tagilchev, who sur vived a car bomb attack last Wednesday outside her high school in the northern seaside city of Netanya. Maariv said she had wanted to go out dancing Friday night to “release the stress” from the previous attack, which didn’t injure anyone seriously. Since fighting erupted last Sep tember, 484 people have been killed on the Palestinian side — in cluding Friday’s attacker — and 107 on the Israeli side. . 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