mml NATION/WORLD U.S. goverment decides to return boy to family in Cuba The Michigan Daily - Thursday, January 6, 2000 - 7 MIAMI (AP) - Touching off angry protests by hundreds of Cuban- Americans, the U.S. government decid- ed yesterday to send 6-year-old Elian Monzalez back to Cuba because "this ittle boy ... belongs with his father." Elian has been in the middle of an international tug-of-war since he was found Thanksgiving Day cling- ing to an inner tube at sea after his mother, stepfather and eight others died while trying to reach the United States. He has been living with relatives in Miami, who have insisted they could give Elian a better life than his father would back in Cuba. But yesterday, the i'nmigration and Naturalization Service decided that Elian should be with his father instead. "Family reunification has long been a cornerstone of both American immigration law and U.S. practice," INS Commissioner Doris Meissner said at a news conference in Washington. "This little boy, who has been through so much, belongs with ris father." She said the father, Juan Miguel Gonzalez, "made it very clear that he wants Elian returned to him as soon as possible." Even though the boy's par- ents were divorced, the INS found that Elian had a "close and continuous rela- tionship" with his father. The agency ruled that Elian must return to Cuba by Jan. 14. Lawyers for the boy's relatives asked Attorney General Janet Reno to reverse the decision and also planned to ask a federal judge for a restraining order. They said the INS was violating its own rules by not allowing the boy to apply for political asylum. Gonzalez, the father, could not be located for comment yesterday. He and Elian's four grandparents had dinner Tuesday in Havana with Fidel Castro, said the Rev. Joan Brown Campbell of the National Council of Churches, who went to Cuba to help reunite father and son. After the INS decision, several hun- dred people linked arms, shouted "Liberty!" and sang the Cuban national anthem in front of the house where Elian has been staying with his paternal great-aunt and great-uncle. In front of the Miami INS office, sev- eral hundred protesters waved Cuban and American flags and shouted anti- Castro slogans. The protests were emotional but peaceful, and paled in comparison to the huge government-staged rallies in Havana demanding the boy's return. "They're using him as if he were a toy and Fidel Castro is saying, 'He's mine, not yours,"' said Norisbel Almeida, a mother of two young chil- dren at the protest outside the home. "Why did they show him the good life so he could go back to Cuba and have nothing?" Since he was rescued, Elian has been flooded with toys, visited Disney World, celebrated his first Christmas in the United States and started attending first grade. He also been in the constant glare of TV cameras. Reporters and pho- tographers staked out the home yes- terday as TV helicopters hovered above the house and tracked Elian's movement as he left school, dressed in his uniform of blue pants and white shirt. Family members tried to shield Elian from the protests and media attention, hustling him from school to an undis- closed location. "He doesn't know what is going on. We don't want to make him feel bad," said Marisleysis Gonzalez, the boy's cousin. In Cuba, the communist government warned citizens to guard against "excessive optimism" about the U.S. government's decision. AP HOTO Elian Gonzalez smiles as he arrives for his first day of school in Miami on Tuesday before the U.S. government decided yesterday to send him back to Cuba. Israelis withdraw from West Bank, end 7-week deadlock Israel, Syria talk details d pe',ace The Washington Post SHEPHERDSTOWN, WVa. - For the first time in almost four years, Israeli and Syrian officials yesterday began reckoning with the concrete implicT s of peace, sitting down with U.S. med- tors to hash out details of s ti y arrangements and the potential forer- mal diplomatic and trade relations . The convening of two so-called teh- nical committees marked the substan- tive beginning of the Shepherdstown talks, which opened here Monday amid soaring hopes for an end to half-acp- tury of bloodshed and confrontation. Committees also have been formed to deal with water issues and the extentof an Israeli withdrawal from the Glan Heights, the strategic plateau captured by Israel in 1967. In keeping with participants' vows Of secrecy, State Department spokesper- son James Rubin declined to provide any details of yesterday's discussions at the Clarion Hotel and Conference Center, except to describe thtas "constructive, businesslike and psive in terms of getting down to businA " But that in itself marks a significent achievement: For the first time sinesn earlier round of negotiations collapsed in March 1996, Syrian and IsraeliWi- cials are sitting down at the same tate to haggle over the components of a.4al that has the potential to remake the political landscape of the Middle East. The beginning of the technical meet- ings followed an informal social gath- ering here Tuesday night hosted by President Clinton, who held forth on the lessons of the Civil War landmarks - including the Antietam battlefield - that surround this quaint West Virginia town. Israeli Prime Mnister Ehud Barak addressed members of the Syrian delegation, led by Fofitgn Minister Farouk Charaa, in Arabi as the guests sipped non-alcoholic bever- ages, Rubin said. In contrast to Monday and Tuesday, Clinton did not participate in yesterday's discussions, although U.S. officials say he is ready to travel here on short rio-tice - the helicopter trip from the White House takes about 30 minutes - when- ever his presence is required. Secretary of State Madeleine Albright, who plans to be here through- out the open-ended talks, had lutich yesterday with Barak and was srched- uled to meet later with Charaa. The talks got off to something--of a bumpy start when Syrian and Ssreli officials clashed over Charaa's isis- tence that the two sides deal first wh the question of Israel's willingness to withdraw fully from the Golan, Syia's main condition for peace. Israeli-offi- cials countered that they could not con- sider the border issue without first receiving Syrian assurances on security arrangements. water rights and the nor- malization of relations. i ~ WILDLIFE JOBS to $21 .60/hr. Inc. benefits. Game wardens, security, maintenance, park rangers, no exp. needed. For applic. and exam info, call 1 800-813- 3585, ext, 3609, 8am-9pm. 7 days fds, inc. WORK STUDY WEB JOB Premier organ transplantation web site (ww w.transweb.org) needs help with all aspects of web publishing.sGreat experience. 8-10/hr., 998-7314, transweb@umich.edu YOUTH SPORT COACH: Ann Arbor YMCA is looking for a P/T Youth Sports coach for kids 4-10 yr. includes YMCA membership & bus pass. Please call Amy 01 663.0536 ext. 252 or stop by 350 SFifth Ave. to fill out an application. Y2 Play? Israelis and Palestinians reach agreement about occupied territory JERUSALEM (AP) - The handover was quick and unemotional. An Israeli officer shook hands with Palestinian officials and muttered "Bye, folks" before he led a convoy of jeeps out of an Israeli army base in the West Bank yesterday. The Israeli pullback from a small slice of land was one of the last before Israel and the Palestinians draw their final borders in a September peace treaty. The withdrawal ended a seven-week deadlock between the two sides over a relatively minor issue - whether the Palestinians would have a say in sketching the maps of the partial troop withdrawals. Israeli and Palestinian officials were mum about how the dispute was resolved, but both sides said privately the other gave in. Palestinians held up a November handover of 5 percent of the West Bank, complaining about the type of land being offered, and demanding more populated land closer to east Jerusalem, their hoped-for capital. The Palestinians said they were trying to establish the principle that Israel cannot dictate the withdrawal maps. Israel resisted, and now denies reports that it eventually relented and promised the Palestinians some of the desired areas in the next scheduled withdrawal from 6.1 percent of the West Bank on Jan. 20. Israeli Justice Minister Yossi Beilin, who is believed to be involved in backchannel talks with the Palestinians, said the Palestinians looked a gift horse in the mouth when they held up the withdrawal. The Palestinians "didn't receive a 'tempting offer' because they don't need a 'tempting offer' to receive ter- ritory," Beilin told Israel radio yesterday. "There is a limit to absurdity." Once the partial pullbacks are completed, the Palestinians will have full or partial control over 40 per- cent of the West Bank. Yesterday's withdrawal began around midday when sev- eral trucks loaded with furniture and mattresses pulled out of the Yosef army base east of the West Bank town of Nablus. Braving driving rain, Israeli military troops lowered their flag. An Israeli lieutenant colonel shook hands with Palestinian officials waiting at the gate, and left with a quick "bye, folks."A convoy of Israeli jeeps drove away and the Palestinians rushed in and hoisted their own banner. In all, the army said it transferred six bases and camps in the northern and southern West Bank, giving 3 percent of the land to Palestinian civil rule and 2 percent to full Palestinian control. But a Palestinian official, speaking on condition of anonymity, said that the 2 percent, mostly areas north of the town of Ramallah, would only be officially turned over today. The Israeli and Palestinian negotiators in charge of the withdrawal were meeting last night. By Feb. 13, the two sides are to reach agreement on the framework for a final peace treaty, which would include an outline of a future border between Israel and the Palestinian entity. Negotiators have reported some progress, but it was uncer- tain whether they could meet the self-imposed deadline. Progress on the Israeli-Palestinian track came at a time when Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Barak was engaged in intensive peace talks with Syria about such issues as whether to give the Golan Heights, land that Israel cap- tured from Syria during the Yom Kippur War in 1967, to Syria. The withdrawal appeared to back Barak's claim that it was possible to move ahead on both tracks simultaneous- ly, and that he would not focus on one at the expense of the other. BABYSITTER NEEDED for I 1-mo. old in Burns Park area home. Exp. w/ babies nec.! refs./ own trans. (easy walk from campus).