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Time Beginning to Run Short on Powell's Peacemaking Mission

Aired April 16, 2002 - 12:03   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.
KYRA PHILLIPS, CNN ANCHOR: Time is beginning to run short on Colin Powell's peacemaking mission. With one day left, he's yet to secure a cease-fire between the Israelis and Palestinians. Still, Powell and his aides, though, are plugging away.

CNN's Bill Hemmer is in Jerusalem to tell us where everything stands -- hi, Bill.

BILL HEMMER, CNN ANCHOR: Hey, Kyra, good to see you again. Good evening from Jerusalem.

Earlier today, Kyra, Colin Powell said he was, quote, "making progress." That was before he had his third meeting with the Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon. That meeting lasted for about an hour.

We are still awaiting word on what the two talked about and how to define that word progress that Secretary Powell says they're making at this time. Again, the third meeting for the two men. It has been concluded. And, again, we're awaiting word.

Tomorrow now in Ramallah, Yasser Arafat, the second sit-down meeting there between the secretary of state and the Palestinian chairman. That will take place tomorrow.

Meanwhile, the other news of the day from this region has to do with Marwan Barguti (ph). The Israeli defense force -- the Israeli army -- has released some still photos. They have pixelized the faces of the Israeli soldiers in these photos.

Early on Monday morning in a house inside Ramallah, Barguti was arrested, brought back to Israel. The Israelis say he's responsible, they say, for a number of suicide attacks versus Israelis over the past 18 months time. Palestinians today say they fear for his safety. Some say they fear for his life. Yesterday, Ariel Sharon said he would like to put Barguti on trial in an Israeli court.

Meanwhile, also in the West Bank -- that northern town of Jenin, the refugee camp -- for the second day now, aide workers have been allowed to get in inside that camp, and the destruction is absolutely devastating. Yesterday, the prime minister said that tanks would roll back within a week's time. However, today they are still perched and parked in that area.

Elsewhere, two other incursions did occur overnight. Some suburbs right here in Jerusalem. Israeli military went in there today.

Israel says that they had information on attacks originating to be launched from those neighborhoods against Israelis. The incursions do continue in those areas despite the word yesterday from the prime minister that within a week -- and at one point, he said within days -- a lot of the military action would roll back. Again, with the exception of those two places: Ramallah and the compound of Chairman Arafat in the town of Bethlehem, with the ongoing standoff there at the Church of the Nativity.

Back to Secretary Powell now for a moment. He will go to Ramallah tomorrow, and afterwards he will head off to Cairo, Egypt, before returning to Washington D.C. And as we mention D.C., let's get to the White House right now, and more from Kelly Wallace.

And as we read between the lines here about what Secretary Powell may have been hinting at earlier today when he said those four words, "We are making progress," Kelly, to you in Washington -- good afternoon.

KELLY WALLACE, CNN WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT: Exactly, Bill.

That is the key question that we've been asking officials here as well: What is the progress that the secretary claims he is making? Ari Fleischer, the president's spokesman, talking to reporters a little bit earlier saying that Powell's mission really is trying to create an environment in which political discussions can get underway. \

He said there are a number of components to that. The Israelis withdrawing from those Palestinian areas they recently reoccupied, the Palestinians agreeing to a cease-fire. Both sides agreeing to security arrangements to get to a cease-fire, and again laying the groundwork for political discussions.

Obviously, Powell left and expectations were very low for him. Even to come back with a cease-fire in hand, the key question, though, continues to be, what is he accomplishing? He will meet with the Palestinian leader, as you said again, Bill, on Wednesday.

And this White House has been really tightlipped, really trying to kind of let the secretary lead this and let him kind of dictate exactly where he is going from step to step, Bill.

HEMMER: All right, Kelly, hang on there at the White House. We want to get back her to Jerusalem in a moment -- Kelly, back to you in a second.

But Andrea Koppel now is with us. And, Andrea, just asking Kelly to help read between the lines right now about these words of progress. What are you hearing from administration officials at this point?

ANDREA KOPPEL, CNN STATE DEPARTMENT CORRESPONDENT: Good evening, Bill. Well, in a nutshell, what we've been told is that things haven't broken down, but they're not looking good either. Remember when Secretary Powell began this trip to the region about nine days ago, traveling through the Arab world, stopping in Europe briefly before arriving here in Israel, he had a couple of really key objectives. One was to achieve a cease-fire, recognizing that it was a long shot, but he certainly wanted to try.

Secondly, he wanted to try to get assurances from Israel for a rapid withdrawal and a complete withdrawal from all West Bank towns and cities. And (UNINTELLIGIBLE) he wanted to get a statement, really an unequivocal condemnation by Yasser Arafat, the Palestinian leader, of all forms of terrorism. He needed to do it in Arabic, he needed to speak to his Fatah movement and tell his people that suicide bombings were wrong.

He -- it appears at least at this hour, 7:00 in Jerusalem on Tuesday evening, he has come up short on all fronts. Don't write the end of the story yet, because U.S. officials plan to be speaking with Palestinian officials throughout the evening. We don't yet know what came out of his hour-long private discussion with Ariel Sharon this evening.

And, of course, we're told tomorrow's meeting with Yasser Arafat in his besieged headquarters in Ramallah, in the words of one official, is really going to be, he said, "... the hopes and expectations are pinned on that Arafat meeting tomorrow." He said it will all be expected to come clear or at least be clear after that late morning meeting there, Bill.

So, you know, it would be safer to say that this is a bit of a cliff hanger right now. We can't write the end of the story.

HEMMER: Andrea, with the plans to leave tomorrow for Cairo, then head back to the U.S., does that give us an indication the expectations are simply not great for tomorrow's meeting despite the words we heard earlier today?

KOPPEL: I don't think that I would read that into it. I think that the sense that we're getting is that Secretary Powell and his team feel that they have done just about all they can at this moment. In fact, I'm not sure if Kelly reported this in her live shot, but apparently a senior White House official today said that Secretary Powell hopes to create an environment in which political discussions can begin at a meaningful level.

And so they're trying to improve the atmosphere here, such that they could have this regional conference, which Secretary Powell presumably will be discussing when he goes to Cairo tomorrow to meet with Egyptian and perhaps even Jordanian officials there to see if they can do that in a quick way and use the momentum of this trip that hopefully will create a better atmosphere. To move swiftly into the real substantive matters of assuring the safety and security of Israelis, and for Palestinians, to give them the hope that they're going to have a Palestinian state with defined borders, the end of Israeli settlements and all of those things that the Palestinian people are looking for.

HEMMER: As you mentioned, at the outset, we will not lose hope just yet -- Andrea, thank you.

Back to Kelly quickly. We were told last night that the president had a conversation with the Prime Minister, Ariel Sharon, about 15 minutes in length. Have you been able to sense what the tone of that conversation was?

WALLACE: Well, Bill, it appears to have a better tone than their first conversation. You'll recall just about two days after the president came out in the rose garden and called on Israel to begin to withdraw its forces from those Palestinian areas, well then two days later the president very publicly said he wanted withdrawal without delay. And then he got on the phone with the prime minister. We understand that conversation to be rather blunt.

This one appears to be more positive, at least according to U.S. officials. The president making the call after the prime minister made it very public on CNN that Israeli forces would be withdrawing from other towns within a week. In that call to the president, he said that there would be withdrawal from Jenin and Nablus within a week. U.S. officials saying the president said that would be very positive, positive when it comes to prospects for peace. That Mr. Bush also talked about his concern about the plight of the Palestinian people.

A lot of questions, though, for U.S. officials, saying Mr. Bush has called for withdrawal without delay, has called for the Israelis to pull out. That that would be the best way to have, you know, long- term prospects for peace. U.S. officials, though, seem to be downplaying any frustration, looking at this withdrawal as a positive step. That it will be continuing and again calling on the Palestinians and the other parties to do their share as well, Bill.

HEMMER: All right, Kelly, thank you. Kelly Wallace, at the White House, Andrea Koppel, live here with the secretary of state in Jerusalem. We will continue to explore this and wait for more reaction from the meetings today.

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