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American Morning

Powell Wraps Up Talks With Sharon

Aired April 12, 2002 - 07:02   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.
PAULA ZAHN, CNN ANCHOR: "Up Front" this morning, as we have been reporting over the last 15 minutes or so, U.S. Secretary of State Colin Powell and his search for peace. Powell has wrapped up his first talks with Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon, coming away with a commitment by Israel to end its military operations shortly, but with no timetable announced.

Joining us now from Jerusalem is CNN's Andrea Koppel with the very latest -- good morning, Andrea.

ANDREA KOPPEL, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Paula, you could say in a nutshell that Secretary of State Powell struck out here this morning. He came here hoping to get a commitment from Israel's prime minister to withdraw very quickly from West Bank cities and towns. He did not get that.

Don't let the exchanges of pleasantries and words of friendship mislead you into thinking that this was anything but a highly contentious meeting. It lasted an hour longer than it was supposed to. It ran four-and-a-half hours.

Coming into the meeting, President Bush, in a very rare public critique of Israel, came out very strongly just last week and demanded that Israel withdraw immediately without delay. But what we heard here today is that Ariel Sharon is saying forget about it -- that this is a war for Israel's survival. It's a war against terrorism.

And the Israeli people view this as somewhat of a hypocritical situation. For on the one hand, the U.S. to be saying to the international community for seven months or longer that its war in Afghanistan is justified, but after seven days, the U.S. is telling Israel it has to halt its incursion into the West Bank, which it believes is rooting out a terrorist infrastructure there.

But, Paula, for the Bush administration, it's really stuck between a rock and a hard place, because Secretary Powell heard from the Arab world this week before arriving here in Israel that this is affecting the U.S.-led war on terrorism, their ability to support it, as well as their ability to use their influence with Yasser Arafat, the Palestinian leader. They are not going to do that, the Arab world says, until Israel withdraws from the West Bank, from all of those West Bank towns and cities.

And, Paula, there is also the fear of a wider war here, of a regional war, which we are already seeing signs of on the northern border between Israel and Lebanon -- Paula.

ZAHN: Well, Andrea Koppel, we are going to leave it there. And in just about four minutes or so, we'll be checking in with Martin Indyk, who is a former ambassador to Israel.

Actually, let's quickly turn to Chris Burns, who joins us from Jerusalem right now with more reaction to what both the prime minister of Israel had to say as well as Secretary of State Powell -- good morning, Chris.

CHRIS BURNS, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Good morning, Paula. Well, if there is any reaction among the Israeli public in any case, we can look at a recent poll, which gives some 75 percent support for the Operation Defensive Shield that was launched 16 days ago by the Israeli armed forces in the wake of suicide attacks that left some 125 people dead in March alone.

So there is strong public support behind Sharon as he goes -- as he went into that meeting with Secretary of State Colin Powell. In fact, we've got a little bit more of that press conference -- let's listen to it right now.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

COLIN POWELL, SECRETARY OF STATE: The prime minister and I had good discussions on the nature of the operations that are under way. He understands President Bush's position. We had a chance to exchange those positions. And I am pleased that he is anxious to bring these operations to an end as soon as possible. And I hope that in my say here, we will have time to discuss this at some greater length.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BURNS: Of course, the Prime Minister Sharon saying that he says Israel does hope to conclude that offensive shortly. However, the Israeli army maintains a firm grip on some cities and the biggest city, Nablus, as well as Jenin of course. Bethlehem, where there is a standoff still at the Church of the Nativity, where some 200 people are inside, many of them Palestinian gunmen refusing to give themselves up. So the standoff does continue.

And of course, Yasser Arafat, the Palestinian leader, also besieged by Israeli troops a day before Powell is to meet with him. So that does continue as well.

There is also a lot of argument over just what happened in Jenin, the refugee camp, especially in the last few days. The Israelis and Palestinians are trading accusations and counter-accusations over what happened. The Israeli military is finally admitting that there were hundreds of casualties in that battle over there among the Palestinians; among the Israelis more than two dozen.

Saeb Erakat, the Palestinian chief negotiator, however saying that Sharon should be tried as a war criminal. He is calling what happened in Jenin a massacre. That, of course, does not make it much easier for Powell in his job in the next few days -- Paula. ZAHN: Well, Chris, talk a little bit more about the challenge he has tomorrow when he sits down with Yasser Arafat. In light of the fact that Ariel Sharon says he has no plans to withdraw immediately, how is that likely to affect the tone of the conversation tomorrow?

BURNS: Extremely difficult, especially because the Palestinians, Erakat and others, are saying that the Palestinians are not willing to talk anything about a cease-fire until this is a pullout from those cities. So this could be almost a nonstarter. It could be extremely difficult for Powell to make any kind of progress.

However, he did note that in his four-and-a-half hour conversation with Sharon over at his residence that Sharon, he says anyway, that Sharon agreed that he is willing to negotiate, willing to talk about that next and what comes after that offensive. So perhaps there could be a little bit of give-and-take there.

The Israelis admittedly have withdrawn from some two dozen towns and villages. They have begun to ease their grip in some areas, have gone into others, of course, as well. But those main cities, there will have to be apparently some kind of gesture at least by the Israelis of some easing to encourage the Palestinians to want to talk with Powell -- Paula.

ZAHN: All right. Chris Burns, we're going to leave it there for the moment. Thanks so much for that live update.

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