The Capital Times, February 7, 2005
Israel approves
release of prisoners
By Ramit Plushnick-Masti
AP Writer
JERUSALEM - Israeli Cabinet
ministers on Thursday approved
the release of 900 Palestinian
prisoners and a military pullout
from the West Bank town of
Jericho within days in overtures
intended to improve the climate
ahead of next week's Mideast
summit.
The ministers also approved an
earlier decision by the army
chief to halt the targeted killings
of wanted Palestinian fugitives
and agreed to form a joint
Israeli-Palestinian committee to
decide what to do about them.
The 900 prisoners represent
about one-eighth of the total
number of prisoners Israel
holds. The decision to withdraw
only from quiet Jericho falls
short of expectations that minis
ters would approve the evacua
tion of five West Bank towns, but
followed the Israeli govern
ment's decision this week to
slow the pullout after a brief out
break in violence.
Palestinians and Israelis both
said Thursday they expect the
summit in Egypt to produce a
truce ending more than four
years of violence.
A joint declaration of a cessa
tion of violence is one of the first
requirements in the internation
ally backed "road map" peace
plan, which calls for the estab
lishment of a Palestinian state
this year.
"We are not talking about
peace now, and not about the
'road map,' but rather about
phases that come before imple
mentation of the 'road map,"'
participants quoted Prime
Minister Ariel Sharon as saying
at Thursday's meeting.
In his State of the Union
address Wednesday, President
Bush expressed hopes for a
peace agreement and said he
would seek $350 million in aid to
the Palestinians.
"The goal of two democratic
states, Israel and Palestine, liv
ing side by side in peace, is
within reach, and America will
help them achieve that goal," he
said.
Israeli and Palestinian officials
welcomed the comments. Israeli
Foreign Ministry spokesman
Mark Regev said the govern
ment was "totally on board" with
Bush's vision.
Maher Masri, the Palestinian
trade minister, said: "The trend
of the U.S. administration is very
positive."
Earlier in the day, both sides
sounded optimistic about truce
prospects.
"I hope that a cease-fire will be
declared, a halt to all violent
acts," Israeli Vice Premier
Shimon Peres told Israel Army
Radio.
Palestinian leader Mahmoud
Abbas, returning to the West
Bank after a five-country trip,
said he has already won an
agreement from militants to halt
attacks and expects Israel to
respond positively.
"We have announced a cease
fire, and the Israelis should
announce one also," he said.
Sharon and Abbas on
Wednesday accepted an
Egyptian offer to attend the
regional summit, raising hopes
for a breakthrough in Mideast
peace efforts.
In Thursday's meeting, the
Cabinet ministers approved the
release of 500 prisoners imme
diately after the summit. An
additional 400 prisoners are to
be freed within three months. In
all, an estimated 7,000
Palestinians are held in Israeli
prisons.
Speaking to reporters in the
West Bank town of Ramallah,
Abbas said he wanted
Palestinians who have served
long terms to be included in the
first round of the release.
In Thursday's meeting, the
Israeli ministers said prisoners
convicted in attacks on Israelis
would not be freed.
The Jericho withdrawal could
take place before the summit,
but approval was largely win
dow-dressing. Jericho has been
quiet during the fighting, and
troops have moved into the town
only a few times to make
arrests.
Under the new arrangements,
troops would need Palestinian
approval before entering the
town, and Palestinian police
would be allowed to carry
weapons, Israeli security offi
cials said. Roadblocks around
Jericho are expected to remain
in place, they added.
Defense Minister Shaul Mofaz
told the ministers that
Bethlehem, Qalqiliya and
Tulkarem would be handed over
next, and that Ramallah, the
Palestinians' center of govern
ment, would be last, participants
said. They said each pullout
would need to be approved sep
arately by the security Cabinet.
The Palestinians want the
towns handed over in one blow.
The participants in Thursday's
meeting said the military would
also remove some West Bank
roadblocks and open the Karni
cargo crossing between Gaza
and Israel."Karni, Gaza's lifeline,
was closed last month after mili
tants killed six Israelis.
Mofaz emphasized that all the
measures are reversible, appar
ently addressing concerns by
hawkish ministers.
A joint Israeli-Palestinian com
mittee is to be set up to settle
, •
the question of what to do with
hundreds of Palestinian fugi
tives, the ministers decided.
Israel has killed dozens of
wanted Palestinian men in tar
geted assassinations that have
elicited international criticism.
The Palestinians want Israel to
grant amnesty to all fugitives.
Israeli security officials said
Wednesday that Israel would at
least agree to stop its hunt for
the wanted men, including those
responsible for planning or car
rying out attacks.
The ministers also gave the go
ahead for construction to begin
on a seaport in Gaza, which
would stimulate a Palestinian
economy hurt by the fighting.
Sharon aide Dov Weisglass
and Palestinian negotiator Saeb
Erekat were meeting Thursday
to finalize the summit agenda.
A group of Palestinian police
officers left to begin training in
Egypt, which is helping rebuild
Palestinian security institutions
and prepare them to take over
areas of the Gaza Strip set to be
vacated by Israel.
And while Palestinians and
Israelis were looking for ways to
bridge gaps, Israel's Supreme
Court rejected a petition oppos
ing construction of separation
barrier in an area that would cut
off part of Bethlehem. The peti
tion was brought by the
Bethlehem municipality and 21
other petitioners.
In violence in the Gaza Strip,
Palestinian militants ambushed
an Israeli army vehicle, slightly
wounding two soldiers with
grenades and gunfire before the
army returned fire and killed one
of the militants, military officials
said.
The army said it arrested a 16-
year-old Palestinian youth carry
ing explosives and a homemade
gun and bullets at a checkpoint
near Nablus, in the West Bank.
Witnesses said the youth had
been bragging to people at the
checkpoint that he had an explo
sives belt.
Pope's condition improves
Fears ease as pope
improves, but Vatican hints
he may remain hospital- ,
ized for a week
By William J. Kole
AP Writer
VATICAN CITY - Easing fears
about Pope John Paul ll's latest
health crisis, the Vatican said
Thursday he was improving and
breathing more easily, but hinted
the frail 84-year-old pontiff may
have to spend up to a week in
the hospital to fully recover.
Prayers and good wishes
poured in from around the globe,
including a hand-scribbled note
from the imprisoned Turk who
tried to assassinate the pope on
St. Peter's Square in 1981.
John Paul has not suffered from
any more throat spasms and
spent a second restful night at
Rome's Gemelli Polyclinic hospi
tal, where a team of doctors was
Health conditions improve for Pope John Paul H, but he may haVe
to spend up to a week in the hospital to fully recover. A team of
doctors are watching him carefully for future complications.
3 WAYS TO
2. GO TO THE HERSHEY THEATRE BOX OFFICE
15 E. CARACAS AVE., HERSHEY • MON.-FRI. 10-5
3. ALL RIGHT , FOR 20 BUCKS
YOU GOTTA WORK A LITTLE, SEATS IN THE ORCHESTRA PIT
ARE $2O CASH AT THE DOOR, DAY OF PERFORMANCE ONLY,
ON SALE 2 HOURS BEFORE EACH SHOW. Limited Availability.
(Limit 2 Per Person - No line up permitted before 9 sm day of show)
FEBRUARY 18 - 20, 2005
HERSHEY THEATRE
►.rentthetour.oos
(Contains mature themes and strong language. parental guidance strongly suggested. Not recommended for children under age 15)
International News
watching him carefully for any
sign of complications from his
flu, the Vatican said in a medical
bulletin.
"The Holy Father's general and
respiratory conditions show a
positive evolution," it read. "The
Holy Father spent a restful
night."
Papal spokesman Joaquin
Navarro-Valls suggested the
pope might spend up to a week
at the clinic's heavily guarded
papal suite, telling reporters:
"When I've had the flu, it lasts
seven days."
Italy's ANSA news agency, cit
ing medical sources at the hospi
tal, said the pope had a few sips
of water Thursday, which would
suggest his throat was more
comfortable.
Vatican officials said they were
considering setting up an audio
hookup Sunday so the pope can
make his weekly address from
the hospital, rather than from his
PAY THE
I;iMMEM!In
1. CALL (717)534-3405
Photo by Georges Bartoli/Reuters
Tickets $5O, S4G, 13G
usual perch at a window over
looking St. Peter's Square.
The pope, who suffers from
Parkinson's disease as well as
crippling hip and knee ailments,
has been in weak health for
many years. But the Vatican took
pains to play down the latest cri
sis.
"All he's got is the flu, which has
become dangerous because of
the Parkinson's," Cardinal
Giovanni Battista Re, who heads
the Vatican's Congregation of
Bishops, told the newspaper
Corriere della Sera. "But now the
danger is over."
John Paul was rushed by
ambulance to Gemelli late
Tuesday after suffering what the
Vatican called an inflamed wind
pipe and spasms of the larynx,
which made it difficult for him to
breathe.
Dr. Attilio Maseri, a leading
Italian cardiologist who has
treated the pontiff in the past,
said John Paul had two things
going for him: "exceptional car
diovascular function, guided by
exceptional will power."
"If he overcomes the respirato
ry problems he's suffering, he'll
certainly be able to go back
doing what he was doing
before," Maseri said.
Despite the Vatican's reassur
ances, apprehension among the
world's 1 billion Roman
Catholics triggered a fresh out
pouring of prayers and good
wishes.
Even Mehmet Ali Agca, the
Turkish gunman who shot John
Paul in a botched assassination
attempt in 1981, sent a letter
from prison wishing the pope "a
speedy recovery." The clinic
treating John Paul is the same
one he was rushed to after Agca
shot him in the abdomen.
Associated Press writer Marta
Falconi contributed to this story
from Rome.
www.hersheytheatre.eou
WORLD
VIEW
By Osman Abdalla
Staff Reporter
oaal 06g psu.edu
Are we as humane as we're
brought up to be? People were
too humane when they first
existed. What makes them not
too humane in the present is
their high influential nature.
Throughout history, people
have gradually taken a path
away from humanity. I don't
know when this change started,
but I have a feeling it was way
before any recorded history.
This is why they are not too
human now. So they have to
take that trip again to humanity,
which they are capable of
doing. What I call human is the
perfect entity of the individual,
the purified one; which is in
another word God.
Empiricalists have said the
nature thinking is that it is gen
erated by certain chemical vari
ables in the brain. According to
this, many ideas can be creat
ed from a single stimulus. We
are building upon our prede
cessors' thinking, exposures,
and stimuli through inherited
characteristics. However, there
were too many deceptions that
people encountered a long time
ago. Nevertheless, that does
not make it impossible for us to
restore our real identity. Human
beings' functionality improves
when they are in a suitable
environment. That is why we
had to create suitable places
for the various purposes in
today's real life, like schools,
hospitals, offices and so on.
Parts of these environmental
phenomenons are the inherited
ideas.
Unfortunately, what makes
this situation worse is our
strong tendency to conserve.
For example, consider these
questions: How many human
beings carry the same beliefs
that have been carried at least
fifteen hundred years ago?
How many casual religions in
the world have been followed
by hundreds of millions? How
many human beings have lived
or are still living who have
made no significant contribu
tion to the greater good?
I am not very sure about
empiricalists' hypotheses; my
hypothesis is that people in the
present are not as humane as
they ought to be. If one looks at
the value of human beings'
behaviors (which are based on
beliefs), they are humanely
very poor. We are losing our
humanity gradually, and in turn
passing what I call the "losing
humanity creature" over to the
upcoming generations.
Humanity is not determined by
our body shape or organs; it is
our beliefs in the better, not the
opposite. However, looking at
some contributions human
beings have done to accom
plish the greater good, we are
very slow to establish such an
accomplishment. What I mean
by the greater good is the envi
ronment that enables every sin
gle human to function perfectly.
Only then can we have a com
plete description of the uni
verse.
No matter how hard we work
and what technology we will
always be subjected to decep
tion. The question is: How can
we liberate ourselves from such
distortion? We have to manipu
late ourselves to being better
like we manipulate ourselves to
certain dreams. If a person
wants to be an athlete, he or
she will exercise everyday.
Everyone needs to make the
turn to accomplish the greater
good for everyone. This turn to
the betterness requires every
single human being to be
entirely involved. At this point
when we make that drastic
turn, we will at least leave bet
ter influence for next generation
to keep going until a day will
come when everyone will have
a full description for the uni
verse, answers to all questions
and wonders. Only then can we
decide to progress or not.