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About The Battalion. (College Station, Tex.) 1893-current | View Entire Issue (Oct. 8, 1997)
Deloitte & Touche Consulting Group Texas A&M University Graduating Seniors: Deloitte & Touche Consulting Group invites you to attend a presentation and reception focusing on the position of Systems Analyst Thursday, October 9 from 6:00 pm to 7:30 pm 504 Rudder Conference Center BANA, Computer Science and Engineering majors encouraged to attend, GPAs of 3.5 and higher preferred RSVP (800) 877-4725 ext 7622 Business Casual W The Battalion ORLD Wednesday • Octobers, Vedi Hamas makes trucqy resumes peace talk GAZA CITY, Gaza Strip (AP) —The newly released spiritual leader of Hamas — the militant Islamic group whose trademark is the suicide bomb—made a tentative truce offer Tuesday, saying the group would halt such bombings if Israel stops “attacks against our civilians.” Sheik Ahmed Yassin’s offer, cau tiously welcomed by Israel, signaled a potential shift in his group’s dedi cation to the destruction of Israel. The blind, wheelchair-bound cler ic made his comments at his Gaza home, where he received Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat, who kissed the 61 -year-old Hamas leader repeatedly. Yassin’s overture came as Israel and the Palestinians resumed peace negotiations Tuesday after a seven- month hiatus. Lower-level commit tees met to discuss relatively minor issues, but U.S. envoy Dennis Ross said the new start meant both sides wanted “to see a new page turned.” The renewed peace talks and Yassin’s triumphant return to Gaza after eight years in an Israeli jail have been all but overshadowed by scandal: an Israeli official con firmed Tuesday that Israel received a cease-fire proposal from Hamas two days before Israel’s botched as sassination attempt on a Hamas leader in Jordan. That bungled hit two weeks ago has damaged relations with Jordan, Israel’s staunchest ally in the Arab world, and forced Israeli Prime Min ister Benjamin Netanyahu to make concessions — including Yassin’s re lease — that have undermined his get-tough stance toward terrorism. Netanyahu has been harshly criti cized for approving the operation. Ross held separate meetings Tuesday with Netanyahu and Arafat following three-way talks Monday night with Israeli Foreign Minister David Levy and Arafat’s deputy Mahmoud Abbas. Israel radio and television report ed the U.S. envoy was trying to arrange a meeting Tliesday night be tween Netanyahu and Arafat, but those reports could not be confirmed. Yassin, who returned to a hero’s welcome in Gaza on Monday, said any halt to attacks would be condi tioned on a full Israeli withdrawal from occupied lands. David Bar-Ilian, a senior aide to Netanyahu, called the terms! ceptable — but he said Yassin’s overture was made represented “a positive char: Yassin and other Hamas:- are not endorsing the ideaofe :orn e to^ prehensive peace settlemenLs 011 g ea | j only a limited cease-fire wasp; jTj-, p eo after which fighting would re>.. 0 |j ierns In the past, Hamas leadenWAnd I spoken of a “holy war” toes;^ won( an Islamic state in allofwha!ii wou i ( j th Israel. The group has carr;r^ij e more than a dozen suicideM^gf m ings in the Jewish state since a u. mt t h, “We would like to hope^Tp s means that he (Yassin) willpB ama j peace rather than violence, : e lan told The Associated pj^ i ( “There is no question he has! | ( avo j lowing and charisma.” ILndon That following-ucaa—^ -demons: by a huge flag-waving wet N() (h Monday—has not goneunnt.^g ve by ^ ra , fat ' • 1 Batson As Israel s prime partner® g ut peace process, Arafat war" distance himself from hard-line and say t . . furthern most hard-line positionsfl|^ p a ft does not want to alienaiR j nto ^ group’s supporters. fj who v —■ Texas ^Icome Cuban congress reasserts socialisnf HAVANA (AP) —The last time Cuba’s Communists held a congress, their party appeared on the ropes: The Soviet Union was collapsing, shortages of food and fuel were spreading and a defiant Fidel Castro vowed to save the country. Six years later, food and fuel are still scarce and the economy’s recovery from crisis is slowing, but the Com munists sit firmly in control as they prepare to meet again Wednesday, setting policy that will guide the coun try until 2002, when President Castro will be 76. Judging from party statements, big changes are not in store. “There are no new proposals” of significance, said Phillip Brenner, a Cuba specialist at the American Uni versity in Washington, D.C. Draft statements for the Fifth Party Congress reaf firm a single-party socialist system, reject foreign claims of human rights violations and insist on a state- dominated socialist economy. The 1991 congress was held in an atmosphe crisis. The socialist bloc that aided and traded Cuba had crumbled, and the Soviet Union itselfv collapse within weeks. Cuba’s economic output plunged by atleast35 cent over the next three years, and the countir tantly embraced a series of market-oriented refoi create jobs and attract foreign investment andtoi The government has slowed the pace ofrefom last year clamped down on domestic dissent asrek: with the United States became even more embiitf The party’s meeting this week also appearsiti sert Cuba’s socialist system will survive the chaos ated by the fall of its allies. The congress, held roughly every five years si 1975, should see the president’s most impoi speech in months. 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