Return to Transcripts main page
CNN Live Today
White House Reacts to Rapid Turns in Middle East
Aired April 03, 2002 - 12:16 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.
CAROL LIN, CNN ANCHOR: As the Bush administration monitors the developments in the Mideast, we're going to turn to CNN's White House Correspondent Kelly Wallace.
Kelly, first off, good morning -- or good afternoon.
KELLY WALLACE, CNN WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT: Good afternoon to you.
LIN: Morning on the West Coast. Any reaction there yet to Egypt's decision to suspend contacts with Israel?
WALLACE: Carol, so far no formal reaction. Senior officials I've been talking to say likely the first formal reaction to come from Ari Fleischer, the president's spokesman himself, at that briefing you mentioned scheduled to begin just about a half hour from now.
Clearly, though, this is not a good development. After all, Carol, it comes, what, just about a week after. At that Arab summit you had Arab countries coming together recognizing the right of Israel to exist, agreeing that they would have normal relations with Israel in exchange for Israel withdrawing to the borders which existed before that 1967 Arab-Israeli war.
So, clearly, not a good development. Obviously, as you and Bill were talking about, Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak responding to domestic pressure, protests on the street, anger over the Israeli raids into those West Bank towns. Clearly, though, it appears a message being sent to this White House. President Mubarak of Egypt very much wants this administration to get much, much more engaged to resolve the crisis. We'll have to see if this development puts additional pressure for the administration to change its course -- Carol.
LIN: All right. We're waiting for the briefing obviously by Ari Fleischer over at the White House, but in the meantime, let's talk about the peace proposals already out there. Are you hearing any sort of a change in terms of how Tenet and Mitchell are being dealt with at this point?
WALLACE: Well, you know, we've heard -- and our viewers hear these names all the time -- the Tenet plan, basically discussing security arrangements to get the Israelis and the Palestinians to agree to some type of cease-fire, and then the Mitchell plan to try and get political discussions over refugees, borders, to come up with some overall political agreement.
It's interesting, Carol, you know, you've heard the critics. A lot of people say the administration needs to come up with a whole new approach and really link the two subjects. Have cease-fire discussions linked with discussions about these political issues. The administration, Ari Fleischer, the press secretary saying earlier, that the president definitely believes he can discuss both at the same time. That's a slight shift because this administration has pretty much said you must have a cease-fire before discussing political issues.
But at the same time, Fleischer say the president doesn't really believe you can have any in-depth political discussions until the violence comes to an end and until there's a cease-fire. So right now it does appear the focus is on Anthony Zinni's cease-fire negotiations. He's apparently in touch with the Israelis and Palestinians, but I don't believe he's had any face-to-face meetings with either side -- Carol.
LIN: Yes, and the Palestinians are still insisting why should they sign on to a cease-fire with no guarantees that statehood will be on the table afterwards. They don't want to lose, I guess, the momentum that they feel that they're creating.
At the same time, perhaps damaging evidence found in Ramallah to the Palestinian cause. Apparently these papers linking the suicide bombings, the funding for those suicide bombings and the strategy to the Palestinian Authority.
WALLACE: Right.
LIN: What's the reaction there at the White House?
WALLACE: Exactly. Well we know Fleischer, the Bush spokesman, saying that the administration is aware of those reports, aware of those documents which have been found. But he said U.S. officials have not seen the documents, so cannot confirm their authenticity. He did say, though, definitely the White House concerned about such information.
And, Carol, this is really, really a big issue, because if U.S. officials ever are able to look at those documents and are able to confirm that they are, in fact, valid, that they do show that the Palestinians have been in some way financing some of these suicide bombing attacks, well you have a very big, big development here, and an issue for this administration. As you know, the president's doctrine, you know, if you harbor or finance a terrorist, you're just as guilty as a terrorist.
He and his aides have said earlier in the week that there's a little bit of an exemption for the Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat, saying that Mr. Arafat is someone who has been committed to certain steps, a cease-fire agreement, a political process. That he is someone who is committed to peace, so therefore they are working with him and not designated him as a terrorist. But if these documents are determined to be true, it would be very, very interesting and it would be a clear decision for this administration about what to do with that information -- Carol.
LIN: Yes, we'll hear more at the White House briefing, which I understand, Kelly, is going to start at 12:45 Eastern?
WALLACE: 12:45 Eastern.
LIN: All right. We will stay tuned. Thank you very much.
WALLACE: Sure.
LIN: Kelly Wallace, at the White House for us this morning.
TO ORDER A VIDEO OF THIS TRANSCRIPT, PLEASE CALL 800-CNN-NEWS OR USE OUR SECURE ONLINE ORDER FORM LOCATED AT www.fdch.com