Jericho

JERICHO, West Bank -- A shrine of a different kind is about to open here.It's a $150 million casino-hotel under construction on a barren, sun-seared plot on the edge of this spring-fed, West Bank town )) that some archaeologists date to 8,000 B.C.Yasser Arafat's Palestinian Authority is backing the project. An Israeli public relations firm is promoting it. An Austrian outfit with unidentified Arab partners is developing the project. And the complaints of religious fundamentalists won't stop it.The peace process should be so easy.

JERICHO, West Bank -- Forcibly removed from an Israeli immigrants center, banned from the Jerusalem suburb they consider home, Rafi Avivi, Eli Dahan and Shlomo Bouzit went wandering in the Judean desert.Then, God seemed to guide them.And the three Israeli Jews, in a borrowed car, took a turn and headed for Jericho and the protection of Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat.It's been three weeks since that fateful day. The Israelis are still in Jericho, an unusual kind of refugee living on the largess of the Palestinian authority.

JERUSALEM -- Under heavy pressure from U.S. officials, the Palestinian police force in Jericho said yesterday it had begun investigating the death in custody last week of a Palestinian-American who had been taken for questioning to the Palestinian self-rule zone.The body of the man, Azzam Muhammad Ibrahim Muslih, 52, was returned to his family Friday, two days after he was arrested in the West Bank village of Ein Yabrud, apparently by agents of the Palestinian security police based in Jericho.

"Jericho: Dreams, Ruins, Phantoms," by Robert Ruby. 340 pages. New York: Henry Holt and Company. $25 Anyone interested in the history of Palestine/Israel will find this book gripping. It has the tone of a mystery story, making frequent reference to a mound of earth in Jericho, which hides the origins of that ancient city. However, if you await a dramatic denouement to the story, you will be disappointed.The author was The Baltimore Sun's bureau chief in Jerusalem, l987-1992. His residence in Jericho made him choose that town as his subject.

JERICHO, West Bank -- Two years ago, Israeli Prime Minister Yitzhak Rabin had the people of this small Arab town celebrating in the streets with a mere stroke of his pen. He had agreed to withdraw Israel's soldiers from Jericho, and residents happily marked the occasion by raising the red-and-black Palestinian flag from nearly every storefront.Now the flags are faded, tattered or gone altogether amid the sobriety of self-rule, but none is at half-staff after the Saturday assassination of Mr. Rabin.

Across Little Gunpowder Falls, where slaves journeyed north toward Pennsylvania and freedom on the Underground Railroad in the 1860s, stands a modest covered bridge. Its timber floor, once gouged by horse hoofs and carriage wheels, is now battered by car and truck tires.Photographers and artists visit the Jericho Covered Bridge to capture its quiet beauty. Bathed in sunlight and surrounded by tiger lilies, the brown bridge, with its traditional truss design, conjures up images of grand romance -- especially for anyone who has read or seen "The Bridges of Madison County."

JERICHO, West Bank -- When Yasser Arafat and Al Gore come to this town today, Othman Hulailah would rather be anyplace else.All the pomp and celebration will just remind Mr. Hulailah how much money he lost betting on the great expectations of Mr. Arafat and the Palestinian dream."

HEBRON, West Bank -- A team of European observers arrived here yesterday while Palestinian police prepared to enter Jericho and the Gaza Strip -- new forces intended to break the lock of violence between Israelis and Palestinians.Even as the observers, clad in starched white uniforms, took up their posts, Israeli soldiers and Palestinian youths played out the familiar script of exchanging stones and tear gas, the acrid smell stinging the Europeans, too.In Jericho, another West Bank town, residents waited in vain yesterday to celebrate the arrival of the first elements of a Palestinian police force.

DAVOS, Switzerland -- A potentially crucial meeting between Yasser Arafat, chairman of the Palestine Liberation Organization, and Shimon Peres, the Israeli foreign minister, began here yesterday with both sides emphasizing that significant issues had to be resolved before they could reach an accord opening the way for a limited Israeli withdrawal from the Gaza Strip and the West Bank town of Jericho.Elaborating on remarks made Friday by an Israeli official, a senior Israeli delegate involved in the talks said that the Palestinians had already agreed that Israel would retain ultimate authority in preventing unwanted individuals from entering Jericho and the Gaza Strip.

The dateline of a story from Jericho incorrectly identified the town as part of the Gaza Strip in yesterday's editions of The Sun. Jericho is in the Israeli-occupied West Bank.The Sun regrets the errors.JERICHO, Occupied Gaza Strip -- Israeli stun grenades answered Palestinian stones just a few blocks from his home yesterday, but Saeb Erekat was contemplating the end of an era.The portly Palestinian negotiator with an early gray beard knew Israeli soldiers were carting away their equipment amid the jeers and occasional stones of Palestinians.

When I spoke to Chris Jericho last week, I thought he might be hinting that he was going to regain the world title from Batista soon, maybe even in the steel cage match Monday night on Raw. But then I wondered whether perhaps he was talking about some elaborate story line that didn't involve him winning back the title. It turned out to be the former - a word that no longer applies to Jericho's world champion status after his victory over Batista during an entertaining three-hour show celebrating Raw's 800th episode.

Shawn Michaels, who suffered a torn triceps during an angle with Chris Jericho on Sunday night at the Raw taping, joins John Cena (herniated disc) and Randy Orton (broken collarbone) on the list of Raw stars on the injured list. It would be a devastating blow for WWE if Michaels were to miss Sunday's show and be out for an extended period of time. Not only because it is another significant hit to the Raw roster, but also because the Michaels-Jericho program has had such an excellent buildup.

For every ex-offender Bonnie Ariano and her staff at Jericho have helped resettle in Baltimore, there are hundreds they haven't helped - not because they don't want to, but because they don't have the resources to meet the demand. It's the same for every other organization in the city that helps former prisoners. The state's primary responsibility ends when those offenders leave prison, even though statistics show 52 percent of them will return in three years. Public safety loses out in that equation, and it shouldn't.

Jason Hines had his question all ready yesterday for President Bush, who came a-callin' to Baltimore and talked to nine members of Jericho, a re-entry program for nonviolent, adult male ex-offenders. Hines said he had served a year and a half for a theft conviction. His parole and probation officer recommended Jericho, which helps ex-offenders find jobs and housing once they get out of prison. Since the Episcopal Community Services of Maryland runs Jericho, it comes under the category of what's called a "faith-based initiative."

President Bush spoke bluntly of his battles with substance abuse during a visit yesterday to a Baltimore job-placement program that has received the kind of federal faith-based funding he wants to boost. "Addiction is hard to overcome," Bush said yesterday at the Jericho program in East Baltimore, which helps former prisoners lead productive lives. "As you might remember, I drank too much at one time in my life. ... I understand that sometimes you can find the inspiration from a higher power to solve an addiction problem."

Emphasizing his support for community work done by faith-based groups, President Bush is scheduled to visit a Baltimore program today that provides job assistance and counseling to recently released prisoners. Bush will talk about faith-based initiatives at Jericho in East Baltimore, a program run by Episcopal Community Services of Maryland. The president's comments will reinforce the continued commitment to such services he discussed during last night's State of the Union address, the White House said.

Here are some excerpts from my interview with former WWE star Chris Jericho, who will make a guest appearance at the Maryland Championship Wrestling show tonight in Dundalk. On Chris Benoit: "It's hard to separate the man that did these terrible, horrible crimes from the guy that I knew who was like a big brother to me, who was a great friend, a great mentor and a great influence on me." On when he will return to wrestling full time and which company he will sign with: "I haven't really even come that close to getting into specifics of when or where.

Sometimes going a little nutty is a good thing. For weeks, Jericho junkies have been firing e-mails (effectively shutting down inboxes at CBS), signing petitions and sending bags of nuts to CBS headquarters in protest. The assault seems to have worked, Jericho creator and executive producer Carol Barbee said this week. CBS executives are in discussions with the show's producers and actors to resuscitate the show -- killed just last month -- for an eight-episode run in midseason. "The idea would not be to bring it for eight and out but to bring it back for eight with the hope that it would keep going," Barbee said.

Jericho, Kan., is the post-apocalyptic town that won't die. Or rather, Jericho, the show based on the post-blast life of that rural town, won't be killed - not if fans have anything to say about it. CBS is wrapping up the show after only one season. A lengthy hiatus in the middle of the season drove away viewers, and Jericho never quite regained the audience that it had during the fall. But viewers reacted with swift fury, and said "Nuts!" to CBS (echoing a line from the show's rousing season finale)

If you are falling behind in your mortgage payments, the first thing you should do is pick up the phone. "A lot of times it's just a matter of telling your story to the bank," said Jonathan Pinard, president of the Empire State Mortgage Bankers Association of New York. "But a lot of people avoid making that phone call." Some people worry the bank will immediately foreclose, while others think their lender won't notice, experts said. Many don't want to admit to themselves - or others - that they can't handle their bills.