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THE MIDDLE EAST CRISIS

Secretary of State Colin Powell will not go empty-handed to Jerusalem this week for his meeting with Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon -- this time he brings the offer of Americans watching over the Middle East.

U.S. and Israeli officials told UPI Monday that Powell is prepared to present a detailed proposal for sending American monitors to flash points that have proved dangerous in the nearly 19-month-long conflict -- an idea formally broached last July by Foreign Ministers of the G-8.

But U.S. officials said that for the first time Israel will accept Powell's proposal for monitors, which Bush administration officials involved in the peace process have advocated internally for more than a year. Sharon's decision Monday to begin to pull back Israeli troops from some West Bank towns -- over his military's objections -- helps, the U.S. officials said.

Last July, the Sharon government resisted the call for international or American monitors, but that position has changed. In an interview April 1 with New York Times columnist William Safire, Sharon said, "To help Gen. Zinni get a cease-fire, we would agree to a small group now -- only Americans, and only monitors. If you brought in armed forces, that would be a major mistake."

The State Department's Near East Affairs division has advocated monitoring since last spring when the leadership of that office drafted a memo calling on the president to authorize imposition of the cooling-off period broached by the former Senator George Mitchell's report. That period was envisioned as the interim period necessary to return to political negotiations and would require the lifting of economic siege from Israel on Palestinian towns and villages and the arrest of militants who gain safe haven in the Palestinian territory.

But unlike one year ago, much of the security infrastructure of the Palestinian Authority has been demolished and many of its officers killed in the latest Israeli military incursions into the Gaza Strip and West Bank. In these and other raids, Israel claims to have uncovered documents that link Palestinian Authority President Yasser Arafat directly to the suicide bombings that have paralyzed everyday life for most of its citizens.

-- What do you think of the idea of sending in American monitors to watch the Israeli-Palestinian borders?

(Thanks to UPI State Department Correspondent Eli J. Lake)

PEDOPHILE PRIESTS

Documents released under court order outline how the hierarchy of the Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Boston covered up nearly four decades of alleged child sexual abuse by a priest and allowed him to transfer to other parishes without disclosing that information, a victims' lawyer said Monday.

Attorney Roderick MacLeish -- who represents a number of the alleged victims -- told a news conference that the documents reluctantly turned over by the archdiocese show that the sexual misdeeds of the Rev. Paul Shanley were known as far back as 1967, but that Cardinal Bernard Law and his predecessor, Cardinal Humberto Medeiros, did nothing to stop him.

"I hope he rots in hell," said Gregory Ford, 24, of Newton, Mass., who with his parents are suing the archdiocese for the alleged sexual abuse Shanley committed against him when he was a boy.

Ford's father, Rodney Ford, called on Law to resign and said the cardinal and Shanley should both be prosecuted and jailed. "It is a total disgrace that these people should not be prosecuted like any other common criminal out there," added Ford's mother, Paula.

Another alleged victim who spoke near the end of the more than two-hour news conference, Arthur Austin, called Shanley a "walking plague," and said Law "abetted the ongoing rape and sexual defilement of children and young men and women by known sexual predators."

There was no immediate response from the archdiocese, which last week had attempted but failed to get a court order to keep the documents secret.

MacLeish said among the most shocking discoveries in the 800-plus documents were church files that spelled out Shanley's belief that pedophilia was not psychologically harmful to children, and that the harm actually came when police questioned children about such abuse. The documents were also said to indicate Shanley advocated sex between men and boys at a 1974 meeting at which it is believed the North American Man-Boy Love Association, known as NAMBLA, was founded.

The records were said to clearly outline Shanley's long history of molestation and that the archdiocese failed to pass on that information to officials when Shanley was transferred to the San Bernardino diocese in California and to the Leo House in New York City, a youth outreach center run by a group of nuns. At both locations Shanley had access to children.

MacLeish said there have been a total of 26 complaints filed against Shanley, including at least 10 detailed in the church documents.

Shanley, 71, has been living in southern California since the early 1990s. His most recent job was with the San Diego Police Department's Retired Senior Volunteer Parole, an unpaid position, in which he fingerprinted children for anti-kidnapping programs. He was fired from that position last week after Ford filed the criminal complaint against him.

According to MacLeish, Shanley is now "on the run" and cannot be found.

-- How much responsibility does the church bear in those cases of pedophile priests? Should Cardinal Law resign? Why or why not?

(Thanks to UPI's Dave Haskell in Boston)

DOCTORS PROTEST

Hundreds of doctors closed their offices across South Texas Monday in an organized demonstration against skyrocketing malpractice insurance premiums spurred by a rising number of lawsuits in the region.

"This is making health care much more expensive and much harder to get," Dr. Antonio Cavazos said. "Some doctors are retiring early, and others are limiting their services. The public doesn't realize this."

The doctors called their action not a strike, but a "day of awareness." Most simply declined to schedule patients during the rallies. Physicians said no patients were denied care because of their unprecedented action. Emergency rooms were open at all the hospitals in the area and doctors said they would handle any urgent needs that arose during the day.

Figures released by the Bexar County Medical Society in San Antonio indicate nearly two-thirds of all Texas doctors have been sued for malpractice in the past 13 years; however, 84 out of every 100 lawsuits were dismissed as frivolous before they could be tried.

One doctor said her malpractice insurance bill has risen from $8,000 a year ago to $39,000 a year. Others said they are declining to treat new patients or dropping some areas of specialty care due to the malpractice crisis.

The idea for a one-day doctors' strike started in the Rio Grande Valley, where hundreds of doctors rallied on the steps of the Hidalgo County Courthouse in Edinburg. The valley is one of the poorest regions of the country, and has long been seen by plaintiffs' attorneys as a petitioner's heaven due to the anti-establishment attitude.

"All of this administrative mess and litigation time cuts down on the doctor's availability and does nothing to help patient care," said Dr. Don Gordon, an emergency room physician in San Antonio.

Many of the doctors warned if tort reforms were not imposed, the result would be skyrocketing bills for patients, higher insurance rates and fewer doctors available, especially in rural areas.

In Austin, Jerry Johns -- president of the Southwestern Insurance Information Service -- said the insurance industry is "very sympathetic" with the doctors' complaints but part of the problem is the propensity today to file lawsuits. "Certainly there are lawsuits that are justified, but what we feel would be part of the solution to their problem is legislation which would address the frivolity in some of the lawsuits that are filed," he said.

-- What do you think?