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CNN Live Today

President Bush Keeping Eye on Middle East

Aired April 09, 2002 - 14:04   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.
KYRA PHILLIPS, CNN ANCHOR: President Bush is keeping an eye on the Mideast situation while on a trip to Connecticut today. CNN White House correspondent Major Garrett is traveling with him, and joins us live with details.

MAJOR GARRETT, CNN WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT: Hello, Kyra. The work of the president in Bridgeport today, a little bit of community service, a little bit of fundraising, for the state Republican party. About a million dollars for the state Republican party in a fundraiser the president just finished.

And if he had any new thoughts about the speed or the pace of the Israeli withdrawal from the occupied territories, the president decided not to share them with reporters or anyone else, being silent on the entire issue of the Israeli military withdrawal, leaving the topic entirely to his secretary of state, Colin Powell, who addressed the issue while in Cairo, Egypt.

Having his meeting with the Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak and the foreign minister of Egypt, Secretary of State Powell said it was time for Israel to withdraw completely from all occupied territories.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

COLIN POWELL, SECRETARY OF STATE: In a speech he asked for the Israeli government to end its incursions and to do it as soon as possible. He reiterated that call last Saturday, and asked that it be done now. I'm pleased that in the last 24 hours, the Israeli government has started to pull back from some of the cities that it had gone into, although there are still a lot of movements taking place, and we have seen some rather fierce fighting in Jenin. And the situation is unsettled in a few of the other areas, as you all know.

Nevertheless, the president hopes that Prime Minister Sharon will end this operation quickly and start to remove the forces now.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

GARRETT: The Bush administration's feeling is that though there has been a positive first step with the Israeli withdrawal from two parts of the occupied territories, still much more needs to be done and the pace needs to be accelerated rather dramatically. This is a rather public disagreement between the Sharon government and the Bush government, one that Bush administration officials do openly concede is in no way going to jeopardize the tight relationship between the two countries.

There will be no particular sanctions imposed on Israel if it doesn't speed up the withdrawal. And certainly the United States is not going to in any way change its strategic alliance with Israel, describing the relationship between the two countries as absolutely fundamental to U.S. international policy.

A couple of other developments, Kyra. While in Cairo, Egypt, the Secretary of State said he will meet with Yasser Arafat, the Palestinian leader, and committed the United States to putting troops on the ground as part of a international monitoring force to monitor a cease-fire, should one eventually be negotiated between the Israelis and Palestinians.

Given the current context and the deep level of mistrust between the Israelis and Palestinians, it's a clear signal the United States is willing to do whatever it can, even if it means putting U.S. personnel on the ground, putting them at risk, potentially, to try to secure a cease-fire -- Kyra.

PHILLIPS: A bold move. Major Garrett, thank you so much.

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