The Day in the Gulf

AMERICANS ARRIVE HOME: The first U.S. troops began arrving back home from the Gulf, seven months after the first of them hastily assembled there to stop the forces of Iraq’s Saddam Hussein. Jubilant soldiers of the Georgia-based 24th Mechanized Infantry Division were the first to return. Another 14,000 service personnel are scheduled to leave over the next week as the withdrawal begins in earnest.

UNFINISHED BUSINESS: Allied and Iraqi commanders met in the Saudi capital of Riyadh to discuss some of war’s unfinished business--repatriation of remains, return of Iraqi prisoners and missing persons.

BAKER MISSION: The Bush Administration asserted that the Gulf War victory provides “a new chance, a new environment” to settle Arab-Israeli conflicts as Secretary of State James A. Baker III left for key consultations with allies in the Middle East. Meanwhile, U.N. Secretary General Javier Perez de Cuellar named a special envoy to explore “all means of achieving permanent peace in the region,” U.N. aides said.

PALESTINIANS TARGETED: At least two Palestinians in Kuwait city have been killed with gunshots to the head, and five others have been hospitalized with injuries from apparent beatings and shootings, raising new concerns about reprisals against the Palestinian community in the country. Most Palestinians were strong supporters of Baghdad in the Gulf War.

ISRAELI REJECTION: Israel’s rightist government rejected President Bush’s call for a solution to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict that includes trading occupied land for peace with Israel’s Arab neighbors. In restrained but firm tones, Israeli officials made it clear that a “new world order” envisioned by Bush is not welcome if it includes the surrender of the occupied land.