THE UNIVERSITY DAILY KANSAN
WEDNESDAY, APRIL 9, 2014
PAGE 9
INTERNATIONAL
Israel bars Palestinian Olympian from leaving Gaza
GAZA CITY, Gaza Strip — Israel has barred 30 runners, including an Olympic athlete, from leaving the Gaza Strip to participate in a marathon later this week, highlighting Israel's tight restrictions on travel in and out of the Hamas-ruled territory, Palestinian officials said Tuesday.
In this April 5, 2008 file photo, Nader Masri exercises in Gaza City. On April 8, 2014 Israel's high court upheld a decision by the military to prevent Masri, a Gaza Olympian, from leaving the coastal strip to participate in a marathon in the West Bank. Israel says only humanitarian hardship cases are allowed to leave Gaza.
In the case of the Olympic runner, Nader Masri, the travel ban was upheld Tuesday by Israel's Supreme Court. Masri, 34, participated in the 2008 Olympics in Beijing.
ASSOCIATED PRESS
Separately, 36 young musicians requested to leave Gaza for a weeklong music competition in the West Bank and east Jerusalem, but were also denied permission, organizers said. An Israeli defense official said a final decision has not been made. The competition begins Wednesday.
The cases underscored Israel's restrictions on Gaza, which human rights activists argue amount to collective punishment and are often arbitrary. They say the travel ban is part of an Israeli attempt to sever ties between Gaza and the West Bank, territories that lie on opposite ends of Israel and are sought by the Palestinians for a future state, along with east Jerusalem.
most of Gaza's 1.7 million people cannot travel abroad. Israel considers Hamas, which has killed hundreds of Israelis in suicide bombings and other attacks, a terrorist group.
The Palestinian Olympic Committee said it had asked Israel for permits for the 30 runners to leave Gaza so they could attend the second annual international marathon in the West Bank town of Bethlehem on Friday.
Israel and Gaza's other neighbor, Egypt, have severely limited access to Gaza since the territory was seized by the Islamic militant Hamas in 2007. Virtually all exports from Gaza are banned and
Itidal al-Mugrabi, a senior official in the committee, said all requests were denied last month. She said the Bethlehem event, which will also include shorter races, was expected to draw some 700 runners from Europe in addition to local athletes.
After being denied a permit, Masri approached the Israeli rights group Gisha, which appealed to Israel's Supreme Court.
The judges ruled Tuesday that they could not intervene in the defense minister's policy considerations, but suggested the military consider more exemptions from the travel ban.
Masri said he was disappointed.
"The ban no doubt limits my ability to challenge other champions from elsewhere." Masri said. He said he trains daily in the streets and three times a week in a local gym.
Ostensibly, Masri should have stood a good chance of getting the exit permit even under Israel's stringent criteria.
Those permitted to leave Gaza, include members of the Palestinian Olympic team and the Palestinian soccer team, according to guidelines published in 2011 by the branch of Israel's military dealing with implementing the policy toward Gaza.
According to that list, exceptions are also made for Gaza residents seeking to attend events in the West Bank
sponsored by the Palestinian Authority, the self-rule government of Hamas' political rival. President Mahmoud Abbas.
Maj. Guy Inbar, an Israeli defense official, said Masri's request was denied because it "does not meet the rules for exceptions for sports events."
Inbar said the Bethlehem marathon sponsored by the Palestinian Authority "has
political overtones," but did not elaborate. He initially said that others who applied for permits were support staff, but then said he needed to check that information.
Eitan Diamond, the head of Gisha, said underlying Israel's policy is an attempt to "create a divide between the West Bank and Gaza, to remove Gaza from the consciousness of the Israeli public, to push
Gaza away."
Israel captured the West Bank, Gaza and east Jerusalem in 1967. It withdrew from Gaza in 2005, but continues to control access by air, land and sea.
Much of the international community considers the lands captured in 1967 as a single territorial unit, in contrast to Israel's claim that Gaza is no longer occupied.
INTERNATIONAL
ASSOCIATED PRESS
Family members of Oscar Pistorius, including uncle Arnold Pistorius, right, cry as they listen to Oscar Pistorius testifying in court in Pretoria, South Africa, Tuesday, April 8. Pistorius is charged with the murder of his girlfriend Reeva Steenkamp, on Valentines Day 2013.
Pistorius wails during his testimony, adjourns court
ASSOCIATED PRESS
PRETORIA, South Africa — A subdued Oscar Pistorius on Tuesday described dinner at home, chatting and looking at cell phone photos with Reeva Steenkamp on the last night of her life. Then he erupted in anguished howls and heaving sobs while testifying at his murder trial about the moments when he says he realized he shot his girlfriend through a closed toilet door.
The court in Pretoria, the South African capital, adjourned because of the star athlete's breakdown. The trial was to reconvene on Wednesday.
Tuesday marked the first time he has spoken publicly about the details of the fatal shooting. Prosecutors call Pistorius' story an intricate lie and maintain his intentionally killed his 29-year-old girl-friend, a model and reality TV show star, after an argument.
Led by defense lawyer Barry Roux for the second day of his testimony, the runner provided more detail about
his timeline of events leading up to the shooting. He said he fell asleep between 9 p.m. and 10 p.m. and woke up early the next morning.
"No, I can't," Pistorius said he replied. Then he said stepped out to the balcony to get fans, and when he returned to the darkened bedroom he heard a noise from the bathroom.
He also testified he heard a door slam, which he said he took as "confirmation" that there was an intruder in the bathroom, and fired four shots at the toilet cubicle with his 9 mm pistol.
At that point, he said, Steen-kamp asked him: "Can't you sleep?"
Pistorius said he felt fearful and vulnerable as he moved to the bathroom, walking only on his stumps. He said he was screaming for Steenkamp to call the police.
"That's the moment that everything changed," Pistorius testified.
the bed where he says he thought she was in the dark, searching on the floor next to it where he thought she might be hiding, and also behind the curtains.
After the shots, Pistorius said, he searched for Steenkamp in his bedroom, patting
"It was at that point ... that it first dawned on me that maybe it was Reeva in the toilet," Pistorius said. He said he screamed for help.
In a dramatic scene before the packed courtroom Tuesday, Pistorius left briefly at one point to change out of his dark suit and into a white shirt and shorts, similar to the clothes he was wearing when he killed Steenkamp.
Prompted by his lawyer, Pistorius then took off his prosthesis and stood on his stumps by the bullet-marked toilet door, which has remained in the courtroom for much of the trial. It appeared to be an effort by the defense to illustrate what they describe as the Olympian's vulnerability at the time of the shooting.
NCAA BASKETBALL
35 arrests made after UConn celebrates win
STORRS, Conn. — The University of Connecticut men's basketball team plans to fly back home with the national championship that was celebrated at a campus rally on Tuesday.
The Huskies beat Kentucky 60-54 in Arlington, Texas, to win the men's NCAA title game Monday night, their fourth national championship. The team returned to the Stors campus at about 5 p.m. Tuesday, where a rally was planned at Gampel Pavilion.
Back on campus, fans celebrating the men's championship smashed a window in an engineering building, broke street lights and overturned furniture inside the school's student union.
ASSOCIATED PRESS
Campus police made 35 arrests by Tuesday morning on charges including breach of peace, interfering with police and vandalism, university spokeswoman Stephanie Reitz said. Of those arrested, 20 were UConn students, she said.
Connecticut students celebrate their team's 60-54 victory over Kentucky in the NCAA Final Four tournament college basketball championship game Monday, April 7, in Storrs, Conn.
"By far, most of our students have conducted themselves safely and responsibly," UConn police Chief Barbara O'Connor said.
Most of the property damage was minor and no serious injuries had been reported, officials said.
More than 10,000 students shook the stands inside Gampel, erupted in cheers and stormed the arena floor as the Huskies won their second national championship in four years.
"I'm just so happy to be a Husky right now," said Mike Butkus, a 21-year-old senior from Naugauduck. "So much pride. The last 20 years, you'd be hard-pressed to find a program more successful
than us."
The victory comes a year after the Huskies were barred from March Madness because of grades problems. They never trailed in the final.
"This energy is like something I've never felt in my entire life," Ricky O'Neill, a freshman from New York, said Monday night. "And we're going to do this all again tomorrow."
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