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About The Battalion. (College Station, Tex.) 1893-current | View Entire Issue (Oct. 16, 1996)
Wednesday Page October 16,19| Hussein makes historic visit Aspiring capital marked by liberals JERICHO, West Bank (AP) — Jordan’s King Hussein made his first visit to the West Bank on Tuesday since losing the territory to Israel in the 1967 Middle East War, and pledged support for Yasser Arafat. “My brother Arafat and I are a team,” the Jordanian monarch said. With tlie historic visit — the first by an Arab leader to the autonomous enclave — Hussein also signaled his public accep tance of Palestinian rule in the West Bank and put more pressure on Israel to accelerate the pace of the peace process. ‘T am happy to be on Palestinian land,” the monarch declared, stand ing shoulder-to-shoulder with Arafat at a news conference in the West Bank town of Jericho. Both leaders wore checkered Arab headdresses. EGYPT' Q Amman jsalem Q ^ Dead Sea JORDAN ISRAEL P 50 miles 50 km Historic visit to West Bank Before the Mideast war in 1967 the West Bank was a part of the Heshimite Kingdom of Jordan. Tuesday's visit from King Hussein of Jordan marks the first time an Arab leader has visited a self- ruling Palestinian area. In a veiled warning to Israel, Hussein said he and Arafat would cooperate closely to ensure that the Jewish state’s new hard-line government keeps promises made in peace agreements with the Palestinians. “I will do all I can to help com plete the peace process,” the Jordanian king said. “God willing, we will see realization of the goal ... the establishment of an inde pendent Palestinian state.” Hussein and Arafat have had a troubled relationship. By letting the Palestinian leader play host Tuesday, Hussein was also tacitly acknowledging his own role as a visitor to the West Bank, over which he once ruled. Israelis have been shocked in recent days at the harsh criticism of their government by Hussein, who has become one of Israel’s closest friends since the two countries made peace in 1994. The unexpected royal trip comes at a critical stage in Israeli- Palestinian negotiations on an Israeli troop pullback from the West Bank town of Hebron. U.S. mediator Dennis Ross has been pressing the two sides to wrap up an agreement quickly, reportedly before the U.S. presidential elec tions on Nov. 5. Under the agreement between Israel’s previous government and the Palestinians, Israeli troops were to have pulled out of 80 per cent of Hebron, remaining only near Jewish settler enclaves. A key sticking point Tuesday was Israel’s demand that its troops be permitted to pursue suspects into Palestinian-controlled areas. Israel also wants to retain control over building and planning in areas where Jewish settlers live. Israeli officials have said agree ment was near. But Arafat said Tuesday that the Hebron talks were deadlocked. He proposed that U.S. troops help patrol the city in order to allay Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s concern for the safety of the 450 Jewish settlers who live there amid 94,000 Arabs. Netanyahu’s office dismissed the idea, and U.S. Defense Secretary William Perry said on Israel’s Army Radio that it “is not under active consideration.” In 1988, a year after the out break of the Palestinian uprising, the monarch renounced claims to the West Bank in a speech on Jordanian television, saying it was up to the Palestinians to deter mine their own fate. By coming to the West Bank now, “the king shows Jordan’s full support for the Palestinians on our own ground,” said Assad Abdel Ruhaman, a member of the PLO executive committee. The king has maintained strong ties to the West Bank, pay ing the salaries of Palestinian teachers, judges, lawyers and Muslim clerics. In 1994 and 1995, Israel handed a third of the West Bank and two-thirds of the Gaza Strip to PLO rule. In their peace treaty, Israel acknowledged Jordan’s special role in administering the Muslim holy sites in east Jerusalem, but Arafat appointed his own chief cleric in direct rivalry with the one named by Jordan. Jordan has since said it sees itself as a guardian of the holy sites until the Palestinians have established sovereignty in east Jerusalem. MAZAR-E-SHARIF, Afghanistan (AP) — It is as colorless as the Central Asian desert it borders. Its economy trembles like the elec tricity in its shops and homes. Yet Mazar-e-Sharif is one of Afghanistan’s most attractive cities — and a place where Afghan women can walk about freely. With Kabul in ruins and in the hands of militant Taliban Muslims, the remote northern city aspires to be Afghanistan’s other capital. Mazar-e-Sharif is the head quarters of Gen. Rashid Dostum, the warlord who rules northern Afghanistan and is key to the national struggle for power. Compared to Kabul, 190 miles away, it is a bastion of liberalism. The Taliban have told women in the Afghan capital to stay home, and have closed schools for girls. In Mazar-e-Sharif, the streets and bazaars are crowded with women. Many of them still observe Afghanistan’s Islamic tradition by wearing a burqa covering them from their feet up to the mesh screen across their eyes. But not everywhere. At Balkh University, young women shed their burqas when they enter the gates, revealing fashionable but modest dress, shoes with raised heels and faces liberally made up with lipstick, rouge and mascara. The different style of Mazar-e- Sharif has nothing to do with pros perity. Aid workers say this town, like everywhere else in war-ravaged Afghanistan, has no institutions that really work. Unemployment is high and the local currency is virtu ally worthless. Still, the city of 2 million shows none of the physical scars of the civil war that reduced Kabul to heaps. Social customs, such as allowing women to study, recall Kabul before the Taliban takeover. Life in the city — and its few paved streets — radiate from the sprawling green-tiled shrine of Hazrat Ali, the son-in-law of the prophet Mohammed. Taliban leaders say their rules regarding women, including for bidding foreign women to drive cars, are in keeping with the tenets of Islam. Other Afghans argue that Islam demands that women be educated, respected and treated fairly. At Balkh University, 35 percent of the 6,000 students are women, who study alongside men, said universi ty director Ehsatullah Hameed. “Education for men and women is the same,” he said. The Taliban’s control of Kabul — as well as two-thirds of the entire country — has unsettled many women here. Belquis Hakimi, an engi] ing student, was ready to school, saying she would never] able to work in the ronment outside Mazar-e-! In this tribal and divided culture, Dostum, belongs to the ethnic Ut minority, is unlikely to Afghan government. But he is ing to establish himself asa maker from this northempti 190 miles from Kabul. With a constant flow of tricity bought from ni Uzbekistan, Mazar-e-Sharif is envy of Afghanistan, even the power fluctuates bulb-bursting brightness. But at dusk, the streetsfal and silent, with no cheery signs and no nighttime sho| or diners. That may be the time most like Kabul. UZBEKISTAN Government troops Dostum's forces Hezb-e-wahabat ... (Shiite Muslims) Mazar-e-Sharif Taliban rebels ! i ? (Sunni Muslims) K. Koodabarq ■ Salang tunnel ' -) IRAN ,> Taliban fighters and troops duel on outskirts of Kabul AFGHANISTAN Kandahar Jebul Siraj Charikar 'Hutnitecsf Sfront SufifcteMmfo 4341 Wellborn Rd next to Barracuda Bar (EXTREME) ARE YOU READY TO OUILD A MEW RODYP $2 OFF s $2 OFF Creatine-300 GM.-$29.99 Myoplex-20PK.-$38.99 Designer Protein-2LB.-$28.99 MET-Rx-20PK.-$32.99 FULL MEAL SPECIALS AMI V tO QQ THUNDEItCtilJDSlJBS Fast, Fresh & Healthy UIMLT OFFER VALID FOR A LIMITED TIME ONLY Randall’s Center 607 E. University 691-2276 next to Marco's Special includes: 6” sub, potato salad & 32oz drink Pick the sub vou like best: Italian, Ham, BLT, Salami, Hot Pastrami, Seafood or Tuna Albertson’s Center 2205 Longmire 693-6494 next to The Cork cussi GOOD AT ALL 9 LOCATIONS • 330 George Bush Drive • Parkway Square • Woodstone Center • 3601 E. 29th St. • Northgate Store - University Drive • Post Oak Mall • 2500 Texas Ave., Bryan • 100 N. 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