£$l( c/t C IP&isHl£
' Wf/ i f( < {(oarif
This award recognizes students for their outstanding contributions
to the quality of student life programs at Texas A&M.
All students are encouraged to apply for this award.
Leadership experience and
excellence in achievement.
Student life is the other education.
Spirit Award applications now available:
On-line at www.AggieNetwork.com
Clayton W. Williams Jr.-Alumni Center Reception Desk
President s Office, 8th Floor Rudder
Vice President for Student Affairs, 10th Floor Rudder
Office of the Dean of each College
Office of Graduate Studies
Student Activities Office, Suite 125 Koldus Building
Multicultural Services Department, Suite 137 MSC
Commandant's Office, 102 Military Sciences
MSC Student Programs Office, 216 & 223 MSC
Application HELP workshop:
February 8, 2001, 6:30-8:00 Clayton W. Williams Jr. Alumni Center
Applications due February 15, 2001
at 5:00 p.m. to the Clayton W. Williams Jr.
Alumni Center Reception Desk.
Studen t Activities JlEi The Association'
At Texas A&M University 1^88* 1 */ v>>UC idtlUl 1
OF FORMER STUDENTS
Questions? Please e-mail: SpiritAward@AggieNetwork.com
Page 6B
WORLD
Wednesday, February 7,2001
THE BATTALION
Sharon defeats Barak in Israel election
JERUSALEM (AP) — Ariel
Sharon, the tough-talking former
general dubbed “The Bulldozer,”
lived up to his nickname Tuesday
with a landslide victory over Ehud
Barak, the prime minister whose
peace hopes were dashed by some of
the worst Israeli-Palestinian blood
letting in decades.
“The state of Israel has entered a
new path, a path of security and true
peace,” the portly, white-haired
Sharon told cheering, chanting sup
porters at his campaign headquarters
early Wednesday morning.
“I call upon our Palestinian neigh
bors to cast off the path of violence
and to return to the path of dialogue
and solving the conflicts between us
by peaceful means,” he said. “I know
peace requires difficult compromis
es — from both sides.”
Sharon said President Bush had
called to congratulate him and to urge
close cooperation, and also urged
Barak to join forces with him in a
broad-based national government.
With 99 percent of the vote count
ed, Sharon had 62.5 percent to 37.4
percent for Barak — a 25 percentage-
point gap. The difference was even
larger than the 19 points that TV exit
polls predicted shortly before an emo
tion-choked Barak conceded defeat.
“The road we chose is the one and
only true path,” Barak said as back
ers, some teary-eyed, slowly waved
blue-and-white Israeli flags. “The
true path requires courage ... and it is
possible that the public is not fully
ready for the painful truth. ... The
truth will prevail.”
Barak, who said he would step
down as Labor Party leader and give
up his seat in parliament, did not rule
out an alliance with Sharon, but made
no promises either.
“We should not rule out being part
of a unity government,” he said. “If
it is not possible, the Labor Party will
be a fighting opposition, and will
fight for what it believes.”
It could take weeks or months for
Labor to choose a new leader, de
priving Sharon of a negotiating part
ner in the rival political camp.
Once complete election results are
announced, within eight days,
Sharon will have 45 days to form a
coalition government and get it ap
proved by Israel’s parliament, or
Knesset. Because no lawmakers’
seats were at stake, Sharon inherits
the same sharply divided Knesset
that Barak faced. Barak could remain
caretaker prime minister while
Sharon works to form a government.
Many analysts say it could be just
as difficult for Sharon to form a sta
ble government as it was for Barak
— and that his term in office could
be even shorter.
Sharon’s first hurdle will be the
2001 budget, which the Knesset must
pass by March 31. If the budget is not
approved, new elections must be called
for prime minister and parliament.
Officially, Yasser Arafat’s Pales
tinian Authority says it will work
with any Israeli prime minister. But
some of his top associates expressed
deep misgivings, and Palestinian ne
gotiator Saeb Erekat warned
Sharon’s hard-line program for peace
talks was a “recipe for war.”
Barak, 58, was forced into early
elections after 19 turbulent months at
the helm of an ever-fraying govern
ing coalition.
«
My government
will concentrate on
the strengthening of
Jerusalem, eternal
capital of Israel.’’
— Ariel Sharon
prime-minister-elect
He had offered Palestinians a state
encompassing most of the West Bank
and Gaza Strip, together with a share
of the contested city.
The 72-year-old Sharon says he
will not cede the Palestinians more ter
ritory or a foothold in Jerusalem — a
point he repeated in his victory speech.
“My government will concentrate
on the strengthening of Jerusalem,
eternal capital of Israel,” he pledged.
Jubilation broke out at Sharon’s
headquarters when the exit polls
were announced, with supporters
whistling, clapping and blowing
horns, waving blue-and-white ban
ners as they awaited his arrival. “The
end of Oslo!” some shouted, refer
ring to the interim peace accord that
Sharon opposed.
Barak supporters were plunged
4 I I '■'
DrinK. Specials
Thursday-$1 BAR DRINKS &
LONGNECKS till 11:00
Friday & Satruday- $2 BAR DRINKS
& LONGNECKS till 11:00
NO Cover For 21 and Up
NO Cover with College ID! 18 & Up Welcome
LR/4NE) OPENING
Ttiursdav, Feb. 8
Located at Texas Ave. and Southwest Pkwy. in
Park Place Plaza (next to 4.0 & GO)
into gloom. “It’s a disaster for Israeli
democracy and the Israeli people, be
cause they totally want something
Sharon is unable to deliver,” said par
liament member Yael Dayan. At
Barak headquarters, a few young
campaigners softly sang a line from
the national anthem: “We have not
yet given up hope.”
For many Israelis, neither candi
date was a satisfactory choice — and
the depth of that frustration was dri
ven home by a record low turnout, 62
percent. Traditionally, Israel’s voting
average is close to 80 percent, among
the democratic world’s highest.
The driving force behind the vote
for many Israelis was a sense of inse
curity spawned by months of Israeli-
Palestinian violence. Although the
great majority of the nearly 4(X) people
killed have been Palestinians, Israelis
have been badly rattled by bombings,
drive-by shootings, abductions and
ambushes that are seen as making in
creasing inroads into daily life.
And many Israelis simply could
not stomach the fact that the out
break of violence came on the heels
of the most sweeping concessions
offered the Palestinians by any Is
raeli leader: a state in 95 percent of
the West Bank and virtually all of
Gaza, and control of Arab neighbor
hoods of Jerusalem, claimed by both
sides as their capital.
Israeli Arabs, a key source of sup
port for Barak in 1999 elections,
stayed home in droves, angry over
the fatal shooting of 13 Israeli Arabs
by police during riots in October.
3!!
G
lii
P
at
By Tam
The Bet
Junim
Cradyti
and abou
walk al
made i
Crady s:
Been
a cruciil
makin:!
lighted!
Depart
Awareie
“Lijfi
that, fra
X)int, is
vith ou i
vho, wai
hat need
lue toad
—News in Brief—
German accused
of luring teen to
Greece via Web
THESSALONIKI, Greece (AP)
— A German man accused of lur
ing a Florida teen-ager to Greece
via the Internet was arraigned
Tuesday and jailed pending trial
on charges of abduction and sex- m c
ual assault.
After his arraignment. 35-year-
old Konstantin Baehring said he
loves the 15-year-old and hopes
eventually to marry her.
“I still love her, I have her deep
in my heart. When she turns 18,
if she can find me, we can get
married," Baehring said as he
was led from the closed-door
«
It
cort
loni
a
nu
report it
'Ofineide
warene
irector c
Residt
lent Josl
Rural c
lent coi
(articular
“Then
hearing to the Diavata maximum tj 131 ne
security facility on the outskirts loutherl
of this northern port city. I^ n | a ^ a
Baehring was arraigned one Nations t
felony charge of abducting a (T)ll>ester, i
nor with intent to carry out urn correct th
ethical actions, which carriesalciencie>
10-year sentence. Baehring also Schne
faces misdemeanor charges of Several st
luring a minor and violating obhiittee on
scenity statutes (sexual assault' spot areas
which carry maximum sentencesi>sary. wi
of five years each. |on for at
The ca
Released U.S. ?
Ignting It
hostage will not I Tl ;;> s *
0 into el fee
discuss captivity ftmpus, v
r street or 1
NAZRAN, Russia (AP)—Thre'walks and
days after ending his captivity'[ Increa:
Chechnya, U.S. aid worker Ke r walks anc
neth Gluck met Tuesday with Tee the
North Caucasus leader, butf f cLnpiis. I
fused to discuss the hazy cf |[i me s c j
cumstances of his abduction. ! ‘^’j ot c
Russian military and secuG^ .
officials flew Gluck out ofChedfL
nya on Monday and he spentt^’i, 1
night in the compound of the',),
ternational aid organizationDf'-iji ’ , 0 c
tors Without Borders in Naz% K na *
in the neighboring republic ofl|: eattltLIC ‘
gushetia. On Tuesday, he boa'f n area t’ 1 i -
ed a plane for Moscow. Pvetow-
“I want to thank everybody''''nr sa ' ( -l-
has helped get me released l e d to pr
fpend or
lundingsj
Rob M
L* Batta^
Gluck told reporters. He reft#;
to say anything about where
was held orby whom,ortodivui
any details of his liberation.
“I just want to say that I’m"*
and healthy and I’m very he!
that I was released," Glucks'
Ruslan Aushev, the leadei
the Russian republic of
gushetia, said that Gluck told ^
during a meeting Tuesday
ing that his captors had tre4 w hethi
him politely and fed him well I ()r a c ‘ a
“In spite of a month of caf : || aee ds
ity, Gluck looked very chee
and he made jokes,” Aushev'
quoted as saying by the Into'
news agency. Aushev added!
Gluck wanted to continue his
work in Ingushetia.
Gluck is head of the
Without Borders mission in
North Caucasus region,
'line to fi
The Stua
nation’s,
'ide and IF
studerm
'chable
'cher e\n
ide distr
When j—;
SGA c=
l p://sga.
'ow stud