2 - The Michigan Daily - Friday, March 29, 2002 NATION/WORLD . Peace talks go on despite 20 killed NEwS II RIF JERUSALEM (AP) - Israel's defense minister met with army commanders yesterday amid growing calls for massive retaliation for a Palestinian suicide bombing in a hotel banquet hall that killed 20 diners, many elderly, and wounded 130 at the start of the Jewish Passover holiday. . In response to one of the deadliest attacks in the current round of fighting, Israel said it would exer- cise its right to self defense, but stopped short of for- mally abandoning U.S.-backed truce efforts. In anticipation of a possible Israeli strike, Palestin- ian government offices were evacuated in the West Bank. In the town of Ramallah, Yasser Arafat's West Bank headquarters, worried parents took their chil- dren home early from school and residents stocked up on food in expectation of a long Israeli blockade. Despite the new bloodshed, U.S. truce envoy Anthony Zinni pressed on with his mission to seek a truce. Yesterday, U.S. officials said the envoy was awaiting a speedy Palestinian response to a revised proposal he had presented a day earlier, before the bomb attack. Israel has already accepted Zinni's pro- posal for a truce timetable, with some reservations. Zinni aborted two previous visits because of spiral- ing violence. The Palestinian Authority said it "strongly con- demned" Wednesday night's bombing at the hotel in the Mediterranean resort of Netanya, carried out by a member of the Islamic militant Hamas group. Arafat met with his security chiefs and ordered the arrests of key militants from Hamas, Islamic Jihad and the Al Aqsa Martyrs' Brigade, a militia linked to his Fatah movement. In Wednesday's attack, 25-year-old Abdel Baset Odeh, a Hamas member, walked into the Park Hotel in Netanya at about 7:15 p.m., just as about 250 guests dressed in their holiday best were sitting down in the banquet hall for the Passover Seder. Odeh knew the area well; before he became want- ed by Israel, he had worked in several Netanya hotels, Palestinian security officials said. The attack- er got past an armed security guard posted in the lobby, walked into the banquet hall and detonated explosives packed with nails and ball bearings for greater deadliness. The blast blew out windows and walls, overturned tables and cut electricity, plunging the hotel into eerie darkness. One elderly witness, who gave only his last name, Breyer, said he was speaking to a guest next to him at the time. "We talked. We heard the boom," Breyer told Israel Radio. "He (the other guest) and his wife and two children flew in the air, with the wall." Another guest, 70-year-old Yitzhak, said that as he and his wife fled the inferno in the darkness, he called out to a wounded woman. Yitzhak, who did not give a last name, said he offered to help the woman get up. "How can you help me?" he recalled her saying. "I don't have any legs." Hotel employees said many of the guests were eld- erly. In all, 20 guests and the bomber were killed. Police said a Swedish woman and several other Euro- pean tourists were among the dead. By yesterday, five bodies remained unclaimed, and three victims were so badly disfigured that pathologists asked rela- tives for DNA samples. Eighty-one people remained hospitalized, includ- ing 23 who were in serious condition. In the deadliest Palestinian attack during the cur- rent conflict, 22 young Israelis were killed when a Hamas suicide bomber blew himself up at the entrance to a Tel Aviv disco last June. As Israel mulled its response to the bombing, Arab leaders gathered at a summit in Beirut agreed on a new, unified stand toward Israel, offering "normal relations" in exchange for a return of the territories Israel occupied in the 1967 Mideast war, the estab- lishment of a Palestinian state with Jerusalem as its capital and a fair solution for Palestinian refugees. Raanan Gissin, an adviser to Israeli Prime Minis- ter Ariel Sharon, said the Arab offer was "a very interesting development, something that should be pursued." Gissin said Arab states should now enter into direct negotiations with Israel, perhaps at a fol- low-up conference to the Beirut gathering. A Hamas spokesman, Abdel Aziz Rantisi, said the bombing was not an attempt to derail the summit or Zinni's mission, but part of an ongoing campaign against Israel. The group is pledged to Israel's destruction. WASHINGTONaust 7 Death penalty requested for suspect The Justice Department told a court yesterday it will seek the death penalty against Zacarias Moussaoui, the only person charged in the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks against New York and Washington. Moussaoui deserves to die because he helped plot "the largest loss of life resulting from a criminal act in the history of the United States," prosecutors said in a filing with the trial judge in suburban Alexandria, Va. Moussaoui, 33, a French citizen of Moroccan descent, is charged with conspir- ing with Osama bin Laden, the hijackers and others to commit the Sept. 11 attacks that killed more than 3,000 people. He is scheduled for trial this fall. Four of the six counts brought against Moussaoui carry a maximum sentence of death. The decision came after weeks of deliberations inside the Justice Depart- ment and carries international implications, especially in Europe, where the terrorism investigation continues in several countries that oppose capital punishment. Moussaoui's home country, France, asked Ashcroft not to seek the death penal- ty and noted the'French would not have to cooperate with U.S. authorities on the investigation if the death penalty was invoked. 6 KANDAHAR, Afghanistan Serviceman killed by land mine in accident Arab world offers Israel recognition, normal relations A land mine killed a Navy SEAL and injured another yesterday during a train- ing mission near the U.S. base in Kandahar, Afghanistan, U.S. officials said. Chief Petty Officer Matthew Bourgeois, 35, of Tallahassee, Fla., died in the 8:30 a.m. accident while his unit was training at the remote site, according to a Defense Department statement. The other SEAL's injuries were not life-threat- ening. Bourgeois, a 14-year Navy and SEAL veteran, left a wife and 7-month-old son, said Lt. Cmdr. Denise Shorey, a spokeswoman at the Little Creek Amphibious Base in Norfolk, Va. She did not identify the other SEAL. Shorey said the mine had apparently been placed by "the enemy," meaning Tal- iban or al-Qaida, but it was unclear when it was planted. The Taliban and al-Qaida mined and booby-trapped the area around Kandahar before fleeing the city in December, following three months of relentless U.S. air strikes and attacks by U.S.backed Afghan fighters. Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld expressed his condolences to Bourgeois' family. 0 BEIRUT, Lebanon (AP) - The Arab world yesterday for the first time collectively offered Israel recognition, security and "normal relations" in exchange for a full withdrawal from Arab lands held since 1967 and a "just solution" for Palestinian refugees. Arab leaders gathered here in a sum- mit gave their endorsement to the over- ture, first put forward by Saudi Crown Prince Abdullah. The offer also calls for the creation of a Palestinian state with east Jerusalem as its capital. The United States welcomed the unanimous decision, while Israel has expressed reservations about the Saudi plan. Still, Raanan Gissin, an adviser to Prime Minister Ariel Sharon, called the Arab offer "a very interesting development, something that should be pursued." Gissin said Arab states should now enter into direct negotia- tions with Israel, perhaps at a follow- up conference to the Beirut gathering. Arab nations have so far resisted direct talks. A final statement by the summit said that once Israel fulfills Arab demands, Arab nations would "consid- er the Arab-Israeli conflict ended, and enter into a peace agreement with Israel, and provide security for all the states of the region (and) establish nor- mal relations with Israel in the context of this comprehensive peace." The Saudi foreign minister, Prince Saud al-Faisal, told reporters after the summit closed: "If Israel wants securi- ty and seeks peace, this is the way to security. It cannot keep the land and demand peace." Arab League Secretary-General Amr Moussa said the proposal had been unanimously adopted during a closed session, meaning hard-liners like Syria and Iraq signed on along with moderates like Egypt and Jordan. "We welcome the unanimous deci- sion to accept the communique at the summit in Beirut," said Gordon John- droe, a White House spokesman. "The president applauds Prince Abdullah's speech. We hope other leaders in the region accept the plan as well." The endorsement came as the Arab delegations made displays of unity yesterday, trying to ease tem- pers after a stormy opening session the day before. When the summit opened Wednesday, the key leaders of Egypt, Jordan and the Palestini- ans were absent, and the Palestinian delegation walked out after Yasser Arafat was not given a chance to address the summit from the West Bank. The Palestinians rejoined the session yesterday. The peace offer also faced opposi- tion from militants. As the summit's first day ended, a suicide bomber blew himself up in a hotel dining room in the Israeli coastal resort of Netanya. The attack killed 20 diners and wounded more than 130 during a festive Passover Seder, the rit- ual meal ushering in the weeklong Jewish holiday. The Palestinian Islamic militant group Hamas claimed responsibility for the Netanya attack, though it said the blast's timing had no connection to the Beirut summit. Hamas officials yesterday dismissed peace initiative, saying Israel would not accept it and the summit should instead back the Palestinian uprising. AP PHOTO Italian demonstrators hold their hands in the air as they attempt to cross the Kalandia checkpoint that lies between Jerusalem and the West Bank town of Ramallah. Sharon "is not going to deal with such an initiative," said Ismail abu Shanab, a Hamas leader in the Gaza Strip. "We do believe that the only way to end the occupation in our land is resistance and holy war, or jihad." Arab states have long called for a land-for-peace solution to the Middle East conflict. But the statement by the summit in the Lebanese capital was their clearest offer yet of what sort of peace Israel would receive. It was also the first time that the 22-member Arab League has collectively put forward such an offer. When Abdullah presented his pro- posal to the summit Wednesday, Israel said the offer of "normal relations" was too vague and rejected any right of return for refugees. Sharon has also rejected any full withdrawal from occupied territories. "Israel has reservations and objec- tions, the Palestinians and Arab side have their objections. The first thing is that they should listen to the Israeli side as well," Gissin said yesterday. The Beirut declaration calls on Israel to conduct a full withdrawal from Arab lands occupied since 1967, including the Golan Heights, taken from Syria. It also calls for a "just solution" to the refugee problem based on U.N. resolutions that. say Palestinians should be allowed to return home or receive compensation. Recognition of the right of refugees to return to land they lost in Israel has been a long- standing Arab demand; the term "just solution" appeared to leave room for negotiations. Israel has ruled out any return, fear- ing that if Palestinian refugees came back, it would undermine the state's Jewish character. The statement also required Israel to accept an independent Palestinian state in the West Bank and Gaza Strip with east Jerusalem as its capital. American crowds in, danger on Easter ROME (AP) - Premier Silvio Berlusconi said yesterday there is "no need for particular concern" as his defense chief criticized the U.S. gov- ernment for warning that extremists might target Americans in four Italian cities on Easter. Italy stepped up security after the State Department warned on Wednes- day that a "possible threat exists to U.S. citizens in the cities of Venice, Flo- rence, Milan and Verona on Easter Sunday from extremist groups." It urged Americans to be alert and avoid large crowds. After a Cabinet meeting yesterday, Berlusconi said Italy was ready to deal with any possible terrorist threat. "We have put anything that can be put on alert on alert," the premier said. "But based on the information we have there is no need for particular concern." A U. S. official said the warning was based on information developed in cooperation with Italian authorities. But Italian Defense Minister Antonio Martino. who commands both defense WASHINGTON Vaccine stockpiles to increase for security The nation will have a lot more smallpox vaccine than previously thought in case of a bioterror attack: New research shows 15 million stock- piled doses can be stretched to make up to 10 times more - and the govern- ment is negotiating to buy millions of doses discovered in a drug company's freezers. Both discoveries are important because, while the government has ordered 200 million new doses to be made by a British company, they won't arrive until at least year's end and then must pass testing to ensure they're safe and effective. Having more vaccine already on hand would buy more time to make sure the new production is done properly. The nation quit routine smallpox vaccination in 1972, and the disease was declared eradicated worldwide in 1980. WASHINGTON Farmers plant more engineered crops American farmers will plant more genetically engineered crops this year, including one-third of the corn on U.S. soil, shrugging off international resist- ance to biotech food. The farmers are expected to grow more than 79 million acres of genetical- ly engineered corn and soybeans, the nation's two most widely planted com- modities, a 13 percent increase from last year, according to the Agriculture Department's spring survey. The gene-altered crops require fewer chemicals, making them easier and cheaper to grow. The crops are engi- neered to produce their own pesticide or to be resistant to a popular weedkiller. "Farming has become so competitive, so small margin, that if we can find something that works economically and environmentally we'll jump on it," said Minnesota farmer Gerald Tumbleson. WODTC, Ga. Lettuce shortages reported nationwide The Hickory Flat Elementary salad bar is filled with dark little flecks these days - spinach and other greens are being mixed in to make the iceberg go further. Want romaine at the Ruby Tuesday restaurant a few miles away? It's on "request only" status. Lettuce is in short supply nationwide, with prices quadrupling in some spots. Blame it on freezing weather in lettuce- growing areas of Arizona and Califor- nia, where quality and quantity have taken a dive this year. The sticker shock is showing up at school cafeterias and restaurants, where lettuce is a staple not easily replaced. "We're trying to stretch it as far as we can;'said Faye Lynn Sams, the cafe- teria manager at Hickory Flat. - Compiledfrom Daily wire reports. 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