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About The Battalion. (College Station, Tex.) 1893-current | View Entire Issue (Sept. 10, 1993)
9,1993 n federal enance ing the here :al that meet a percent >93 be- ?d this rrutiny rry the t takes e it off ed the began ear. ie unit. of un- of the ■s, in a Unit 1 .000 to before The Battalion '""K tflO Vol. 93 No. 10 (10 pages) 1893 — A Century r of Service to Texas A&M — 1993 Friday, September 10,1993 Israel, PLO agree on mutual recognition - The Associated Press I lommit- amend- ts meet- a open p.m. at in the uilding. invited nate en- ■ss their •mic Af final re- ,ts Octo- y Senate proposal TUNIS, Tunisia — PLO leaders and Israel swept away one of the major obstacles to Mideast peace Thursday when they agreed to recognize each other and take the risky path to peace. The mutual recognition agree ment clears the way for a separate pact giving Palestinians a measure of self-rule in the West Bank and Gaza Strip, occupied by Israel since the 1967 Middle East war. President Clinton called the agreement "a very brave and courageous thing,” and a congres sional aide said Clinton told con gressional leaders that Washing ton would renew dialogue with the PLO, suspended in 1990. Yitzhak Rabin's office said in Jerusalem that Israel and the PLO will sign the recognition agree ment in simultaneous ceremonies in Jerusalem and Tunis on Friday. It said Rabin would sign in his of fice at 9a.m. Friday (3 a.m. EST). On Monday in Washington, the two sides will sign an accord on Palestinian self-rule in the occu pied Gaza Strip and West Bank town of Jericho. Under the recognition agree ment, the Palestine Liberation Or ganization would renounce terror ism and recognize Israel's right to She said the agreement "recog nizes Palestinian national rights and allows for genuine reconcilia tion based on the rights of both peoples to live in the region." Texts of the unsigned recogni tion letters were released by Ra bin's office on Thursday. "There are very few moments in history that are comparable to this moment." - Hanan Ashrawi, spokeswoman for the Palestinian delegation at the Mideast peace talks in Washington exist. The agreement on self-rule could eventually lead to a more comprehensive autonomy for Palestinians in lands captured by Israel. In Washington, Hanan Ashrawi, spokeswoman for the Palestinian delegation at the Mideast peace talks, said, "There are very few moments in history that are comparable to this mo ment." PLO chief Yasser Arafat, in a letter to Rabin, pledges the PLO will renounce terrorism and de clares that sections of the PLO convenant that call for Israel's de struction are "no longer valid." Rabin, in a letter to his longtime enemy, says Israel will recognize the PLO "as the representative of the Palestinian people" and will start negotiations with the organi zation. PLO officials said the last stick ing point in the agreement con cerned the nearly six-year Pales tinian uprising in the Israeli-occu pied lands. A senior PLO official said that under a compromise Arafat will announce that "the PLO will en courage the Palestinians in the oc cupied territories to work for re construction and will urge them to avoid violence." The PLO had hesitated at wording proposed by Israel that could have been interpreted as a call to end the uprising against more than a quarter-century of Is raeli domination. "At last there is peace," said Shulamit Aloni, Israel's minister of science and culture. "For me, after fighting so many years for this moment, I have to go and cele brate." Norway's foreign minister, Jo han Jorgen Holst, who has been helping mediate the talks, called See Mideast/Page 4 Cotton candy causes a stir ny area vement, , and he se since [ would and all i you go '6 got tO i've got etimes, lique - Marti Alvarado, a food service employee, serves up some cotton candy at the Food Services barbecue held near the Academic Kyle Burnett/The Battalion Building Thursday. About 400 students attended the event. Sbisa and the Commons dining centers were closed for the event. B-CS will benefit from NAFTA, economist says By Stephanie Pattillo t to get ie said, and my t even I figure i, that's aft any- >cus on The Battalion i Bryan-College Station will not lose jobs but will benefit from the passage of the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA), a J local economist said Thursday, despite nation al concerns from environmental and labor j groups. "We don't have the low skill, small manu- ] facturing jobs here that are moving to Mexico so industries that go to Mexico won't be drawn from B-CS," Sam Harwell, director of the Small Business Development Center said. "A lot of small to medium size import/ex port companies based here will grow, and a lot of agricultural industries will export to Mexi co," he said. Rafael Gely, assistant professor of manage ment, said there will be an increase in jobs in the United States in the long run. "There will be some job loss due to NAFTA, but those will be mainly low-skill jobs," he said. "The jobs that will be gained will be the high skilled, high paid jobs." NAFTA, if passed by Congress this Decem ber, will phaseout most of the trade barriers between the United States, Mexico and Canada over a 15-year period. The treaty is under in tensive attack by U.S. labor unions. Gely said the immediate concerns of labor are that the jobs that are moving to Mexico are those in the textile and low-skills manufactur ing industry. "Unions have not been faring well in the last 15 years, and they are concerned with los ing more jobs in a short span of time," he said. Julian Caspar, director of the Center for In ternational Business Study, said unions will be hit hard because people don't like to see a loss of jobs. "Labor is trying to protect industries that will die sooner or later because of advanced companies," he said. "Labor needs to realize that they've got to keep moving on. Skilled workers need to increase. "From an economic standpoint there is no reason why if the Mexican worker produces at half the price of what American workers pro duce Mexican workers shouldn't benefit," Gas- par said. Harwell said labor concerns have been overblown. "Jobs that are going to Mexico just as easily could go to Taiwan or Guatemala," he said. Caspar predicted that during the next 10 to See NAFTA/Page 4 Medical school to include leadership program By Carrie Miura ed a lot tes and d times/ m came Dther. rer," h e The Battalion Texas A&M University medical students are learning that there is more to being a doctor than just medicine. Deborah Seidel, director of public affairs for the Texas A&M College of Medicine, said the col lege has incorporated a 'leader ship in medicine' program into their curriculum, which will "give students the opportunity to broaden their perspectives." A&M is the only College of Medicine in Texas that has such a program in its curriculum. "We want them to be active Within their communities and to take on responsibilities around us," she said. "The leadership in medicine program is designed to instill in our students the desire to be a part of solutions," Seidel said Dr. Richard DeVaul, director of the leadership in medicine pro gram and dean of the College of Medicine, said he initiated the program in hopes that it would enhance the medical education curriculum. The medical students begin the leadership program within their first year in medical school. Dr. James Knight, co-director of the leadership program, said the students first work in groups made up of eight students and two leaders who are either physi cians or basic scientists. Students discuss professional development, leadership princi ples, community organization and issues like health care reform, said Knight. In the second year of the lead ership program, students have the opportunity to choose a mentor. Knight said, "This gives the student a broaden perspective on how that leader conducts them selves within the community." Stuart Shalat, associate profes sor of epidemiology for the Col lege of Veterinary Medicine and mentor to the leadership program, said, "This program tries to give students broader horizons and a chance at realizing their full po tential." The student and the mentor in teract on a different level, she said. "I found it to be a very invigo rating experience to get a student early in their career and be able to broaden their horizons," Knight said. In third year of medical school, students must decide their spe cialty, during this process, the leadership program "opens up all the different areas of medicine to the students," Knight said. Erik Nisimblat, a second year medical student at the A&M Col lege of Medicine, said, "The first year program exposed you to the different services that the commu nity offers and showed you how as a physician, you can get in volved within the community." Aggies react to Middle East By Lisa Elliott The Battalion After decades of fighting in the Middle East, a chance for peace is on the horizon, yet stu dents and faculty at Texas A&M University have mixed reac tions about the future. The agreement between the Palestine Liberation Organiza tion and the Jewish state of Is rael could be the start of a new era, said Rabbi Peter Tarlow of the B'nai B'rith Hillel Founda tion, the Jewish student organi zation at A&M. "I hope that this will be the beginning of a new age of peace," he said. Tarlow said he has seen many friends and relatives die in the fighting and is hopeful for the future of the Middle East "I have seen friends lose sons, brothers, husbands and whole families to this fighting," he said. Mahmoud Alyahya, a 1990 agricultural education graduate of A&M and a former resident of Palestine, isn't as hopeful of the future. He said he is skepti cal of the Jewish people and fears the Palestinians are being misled. "This is a preplanned result of the Zionist project to take the whole of Palestine and to ex pand further in fulfillment of Zionist aims and ideals," he said. Alyahya said he was driven out of his home by Zionist ter rorists in the late 1940s and lost the land that had belonged to See Reaction/Page 4 KBTX to remain on TCA's line-up By Geneen Pipher The Battalion After almost a month of con flict and a week and a half of "se rious negotiations," local CBS af filiate KBTX-TV and TCA Cable reached an agreement Wednes day night that allows KBTX to re main on TCA's channel line-up. The details of the settlement, which was reached early Wednes day evening, are being kept tightly under wraps because of a confidentiality clause in the agreement. Although the exact details of the agreement are unknown to the public, Randy Rogers, gener al manager of TCA Cable, said no cash will exchange hands. "The only thing I can tell you about it is that it (the agreement) does not involve any cash com pensation," Rogers said. "Since it does not involve any cash compensation it will not re sult in any increase in rates now or in the future." KBTX had wanted TCA to pay 30 cents per customer per month, amounting to $10,000 per month and $122,400 per year. But, Rogers said earlier this month, TCA would not pay the money KBTX was demanding, even though it could result in no CBS programming on the cable system. Although KBTX could not be reached for comment, Rogers said both TCA and KBTX are satisfied with the outcome of the negotia tions. "I am pleased with the settle ment," he said. "We were able to reach an agreement 1 think we can all be happy with. The cable subscribers will continue receiv ing the KBTX - CBS programming on our cable system." Rogers said it was important that KBTX and its programming remain on the cable system. "Quite frankly, the CBS pro gramming is valuable to cable customers and so is the local pro gramming, the news and so forth," he said. "The people want it, that is why it's so important to TCA. It is important to KBTX to remain on the cable system because they have a lot of extra coverage they would not have otherwise." Rodger Lewis, KAMU educa tional program director and lec turer in broadcast journalism, said KBTX gets more advertisers because they are on the cable sys tem. , "I know of three different local advertisers tjaat said if KBTX was not on cable they would pull their ads," Lewis said. "If I were guessing. I'd say that's what prompted Jim (KBTX's general manager) to change his position." The conflict began as a result of a new federal law, the Cable Consumer Protection Act of 1992, which states that cable companies must now have permission to car ry all stations before Oct. 6. Lewis said the controversy be tween KBTX and TCA is some thing that is currently happening all over the United States. "Anytime you have new regu lations, businesses are going to devise strategies to get more money or keep from losing mon ey," Lewis said. "If a station thinks they can get money they are going to try, but cable companies are not so fat that they can pay the money and not have to pass it on to sub scribers. "I think channel 3 had an error in their strategy because there is no way TCA could pay that amount of money." Lewis said many people in the community were confused by the messages the two organizations were producing. "There were two different sides, two (different points of view and no one knew exactly who to believe," he said. Rogers agreed and said, "It was a negotiation between busi nesses, and it got out in the public a couple of weeks ago. "I think people in the commu nity were pulled back and forth as to who to support and who to believe. I wish it could have been completely behind closed doors, but it wasn't." Inside Sports •A&M plays Oklahoma for first time since 1951 •Oklahoma is A&M's next obstacle to championship Page 7 Opinion •Pro-Con: Was KBTX justified in asking TCA to pay rebroadcast fees? Page 9 Weather ♦Friday: partly cloudy, isolated showers •Weekend: partly cloudy, highs in 90s • Next week: partly cloudy, isolated showers