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Bush Administration Now Deeply Involved in Events in Middle East

Aired March 25, 2002 - 10:03   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: The Bush administration now deeply involved in the events in the Middle East.

John King there with us this afternoon.

Still no plans, John, for Dick Cheney to meet with Yasser Arafat at this point.

Good afternoon.

JOHN KING, CNN WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT: Good afternoon to you, Bill.

No plans right now. That meeting on hold pending the results of ongoing negotiations.

The President's special envoy, retired Marine General Anthony Zinni remains in the region. He is shuttling back and forth throughout the weekend, and now again on Monday, between Israeli and Palestinian delegations, trying to bring about a cease-fire.

Remember, both Mr. Cheney and the Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon said the condition for Yasser Arafat leaving the Palestinian territories was an agreement on a cease-fire.

So the big question now is, will the Israelis let Mr. Arafat go to that Arab summit that's already underway. The discussions, the main summit itself begins Wednesday in Beirut.

U.S. officials, including Secretary of State Powell and the Vice President have appealed to the Israeli government to let Mr. Sharon go. They believe it would dramatically change the tone and the tenor of the Arab summit.

If Mr. Arafat is there, the White House view is, the summit will focus on the Saudi peace initiative, and Arab leaders will have a chance, in the words of one senior official, to look Mr. Arafat in the eye and urge him to choose the path of peace.

If Mr. Arafat is not allowed to go, U.S. officials are very worried the tone of the summit will be criticism of Israel and criticism of the United States for keeping Mr. Arafat isolated. Secretary of State Powell called Mr. Arafat directly today, we are told, urging him to move more quickly to meet the conditions for a cease-fire. Those negotiations continuing.

Until then, the Cheney meeting on hold. Now no hope at all here. There could be a Cheney-Arafat meeting before the Arab summit.

Some possibility that if a cease-fire is reached, if Israel lets Mr. Arafat go to Beirut, perhaps a Cheney meeting on the back end, but U.S. officials say, as of now, noon hour Monday here in Washington, Mr. Arafat has not met the conditions for a meeting. The main condition is, agree first to a cease-fire. Bill.

HEMMER: John, you also have more information, too. If indeed that peace talks do not get stabilized in the Middle East, or (ph) the Israeli government right now, formulating military plans that would hit places in the West Bank and in Gaza.

What more do you know about that?

KING: Remember, Bill, last week when Vice President Cheney was in the region, the Israelis pulled back from five locations in the West Bank and Gaza.

Since then, of course, two deadly bombings over the weekend. And the United States itself has designated the group that claimed responsibility for one of those bombings as a terrorist organization.

U.S. officials say that the government of Prime Minister Sharon is under pressure to respond, that the Prime Minister and his military team are discussing potential responses that would include military - use of the military force.

U.S. officials have urged them to set that aside, so long as the cease-fire talks are progressing.

There is a worry here in Washington that we could be back into the situation we were in a week, 10 days ago. If the cease-fire talks collapse, the Sharon government will feel it has no choice but to respond with military power, and from there the situation could spiral out of control yet again. Bill.

HEMMER: In the meantime, though, John, they are awaiting - the White House is, anyway - any word from Anthony Zinni in terms of direction one way or another at this point. Correct?

KING: They are waiting for General Zinni to say first whether he has a cease-fire agreement, and he does not.

That is the threshold right now. They're still trying to get both sides to agree to a cease-fire. U.S. officials say the main stumbling point right now is, they do not believe Yasser Arafat is doing enough to deter more violence, not doing enough.

One of the requirements of the so-called Tenet agreement is not just to try to stop the violence, but to increase security cooperation. And as part of that, to share intelligence.

If you have any knowledge about the potential, the possibility of a future attack, to share that.

That is one area where the White House and the Israelis say the Palestinian Authority has been quite lacking.

HEMMER: Eyes and ears on the ground. John, thanks. John King at the White House.

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