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Another Deadly Attack in Jerusalem Threatens Peace Process

Aired March 21, 2002 - 13:02   ET

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
BILL HEMMER, CNN ANCHOR: First up this hour now from Jerusalem, where another deadly attack now has done at least temporary damage to the delicate business of trying to forge a truce there. At least two Israelis dead after a Palestinian reportedly now from the Al Aqsa martyr brigade blew himself up in the commercial center of Jerusalem. Only yesterday, the Bush administration named that group, which is linked to Yasser Arafat's Fatah movement, a foreign terrorist organization. For more now here in Washington and the fallout from today's events, our senior White House correspondent John King again on the front lawn. John, what more do we have?

JOHN KING, CNN SENIOR WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT: Well, Bill, it was a very difficult decision to begin with for the president to lower his standards, if you will, and put on the table the prospect of a meeting between Vice President Dick Cheney and the Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat. Now, an equally if not more difficult decision, whether to go forward with that meeting in the wake of deadly bombings; two days in a row now, after Vice President Cheney left the Middle East region.

Here at the White House, they are waiting to see. They say Yasser Arafat must meet some key tests. He must come out and publicly condemn not only this bombing today, but violence in general. He must make arrests if indeed a group closely associated with him is responsible, as it has claimed to be, for the attacks, and he must resume in a much greater detail security cooperation with the Israeli government.

Now, the vice president is poised to leave as early as Sunday for a Monday meeting in Egypt, that would be right before the Arab League summit in Beirut later next week. There are a number of calculations under which the administration believes that meeting could be helpful to the effort to get the parties back to a peace process, but the vice president making clear today as he met with the president in the Oval Office, he will not make the decision to go. That decision will be made by General Anthony Zinni, the president's special envoy in the region.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

RICHARD CHENEY, VICE PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: He will make his judgment based on whether or not Arafat is, in fact, implementing Tenet. Not just promising to implement, but implementing Tenet. If -- if he is doing that, if he is living up to those requirements, and General Zinni signs off on it, then I am prepared to go back almost immediately for a meeting.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

KING: Now, significant in what the vice president said is this: Not just promising to implement Tenet, but implementing Tenet. That means implementing a cease-fire agreement, that means sharing intelligence about potential future attacks with the Israelis, that means more security meetings, and that's why it is so significant that the meeting planned for today was called off by Israelis. If there are no security meetings, there could be no implementation of Tenet.

So, something to watch over the next 24 hours or so, whether or not the security meetings get back on track. If they do not, it would be very difficult to get to the point for the administration to feel confidence that Mr. Cheney should meet Mr. Arafat -- Bill.

HEMMER: John, listen, you just came back from overseas, a very lengthy trip, about a dozen nations with the vice president. Curious to know your impressions. This trip set out supposedly, publicly, anyway, the thought was to build support against Saddam Hussein. What happened, though, as you observed Dick Cheney changing his focus on the road?

KING: Well, heading into the trip, the vice president said he viewed no linkage at all between the Israeli-Palestinian conflict and the separate issue of trying to bring skeptical Arab nations around to the idea of a potential military confrontation with Iraq. By the end of the trip, though, the vice president himself said all of the Arab leaders in the region are preoccupied with the Israeli-Palestinian violence. They blame Israel, but they also blame the United States. They believe this Bush administration has been lopsided and pro-Israel in its policy.

That is why you see the prospect of an Arafat meeting on the table, that is why you see the United States pressuring Israel to pull the troops out of the West Bank and Gaza, a strategic shift in how this administration deals with the Israeli-Palestinian issue. White House officials say that was necessary to end the bloodshed, but they also hope in the end it wins them a second, more productive meeting, if they go back to those Arab nations to ask again about Saddam Hussein.

HEMMER: And certainly, John, the situation on the ground will dictate whether or not Dick Cheney does meet Yasser Arafat before next Wednesday in the Arab summit in Beirut. On the outside, there appears to be a willingness, almost an eagerness for Dick Cheney to meet with Yasser Arafat. Is that a fair read in any sense?

KING: Well, they believe it can be helpful now. There are -- Yasser Arafat has very few fans, if any, in this White House. They do not believe he has kept his promises. Some openly question whether he has either the political will or the political standing to stop the violence.

The calculation is this, Bill: They believe Mr. Cheney can look Mr. Arafat in the eye and say nothing at that Arab summit that incites more violence. They believe that meeting in Egypt would give political cover for the Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon to lift the travel restrictions and let Mr. Arafat out of Palestinian territories. And they also believe -- and this is important -- that if they did not let him go, that if they did not meet with him, then the summit would be condemnation of Israel and the United States. If they let him go, they have told Arab leaders in private conversations, we want you to pressure Arafat to keep his end of the deal, we want the summit to be not about criticizing us, not about criticizing Israel, but to be about the new Saudi peace proposal.

HEMMER: Sensitivity's all around. John, thanks. John King on the front lawn.

Want to get over to Jerusalem right now, and a public condemnation for the Palestinian leadership. Israeli leaders now holding Yasser Arafat personally responsible. Back to Jerusalem, Michael Holmes is now with us live update on what is happening there on the ground. Michael, good evening.

HOLMES: Good evening to you, Bill.

Yes, that's right, more violence amid the efforts to try to find some peace here. The suicide bombing here today in West Jerusalem, putting even more pressure on Anthony Zinni as he seeks to find a way to bring about some sort of truce.

The bomber detonated his explosives in a very busy, very commercial area of West Jerusalem, close to the Ben Yehuda Mall, a place familiar to those who've been to this area, it's a shop center, businesses and apartments all there. At last count, two people dead, up to 60 injured. And of course, the suicide bomber also dead.

Now, the responsibility significantly for the previous incidents that we've seen in recent days has been taken by groups like Islamic Jihad and Hamas. These are groups that have always been vehemently opposed to any peace progress here and this talk of a cease-fire with Israel, but this particular incident has been claimed by the Al Aqsa brigades. Now, this a militia that's aligned with Yasser Arafat's own Fatah movement, and it is significant that if indeed Al-Aqsa was responsible for this, it would just give more ammunition to Israel who says that Yasser Arafat has not shown any willingness or ability to control militants.

As you said, Israeli spokesmen have laid the blame for today's bombing at the feet of Yasser Arafat. The Palestinian Authority for its part quickly condemning what happened today, and saying that they would pursue all of those responsible.

Meanwhile, the Bush administration -- a senior administration official saying that the Al-Aqsa brigades will be added to the administration's list of foreign terrorist organizations.

Now, so far, cease-fire talks have gone on while the violence continues. However at least temporarily, that appears to not be the case now. There was meant to be a meeting taking place this evening here between senior Israeli and Palestinian security officials, just like several meetings have taken place in recent days. That has now been postponed. Already scheduled meeting between Anthony Zinni and the Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon, however, is going ahead as we speak.

So, before this latest attack, certainly there was some hope of progress toward a cease-fire, but tonight, Bill, uncertainty reigns, as it often does in this part of the world.

HEMMER: Another deadly and bloody day. Michael Holmes live in Jerusalem -- thank you, Michael.

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