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CNN Live At Daybreak

Preview of Sharon's Meeting With Bush

Aired May 06, 2002 - 06:32   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 COSTELLO, CNN ANCHOR: For a preview of Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon's meeting with President Bush, we want to go live to CNN's Jerrold Kessel in Jerusalem -- good morning, Jerrold.

JERROLD KESSEL, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Good morning, Carol. You know, at the moment, all eyes are not yet on Washington. They are all still on the Church of the Nativity in Bethlehem, where that five- week-old siege today still unresolved there in that standoff between the Palestinian gunmen in the church and the Israeli forces besieging it.

But the implication is that there will be a resolution very quickly, but we have heard from both sides saying they expect it to be even today. It hasn't happened yet, but it seems to be heading that direction after they have outlined the shape of the deal, which will mean that the overwhelming majority of the Palestinians in there will be able to go out free once they come out.

There will be some 30 or so, who will be sent to Gaza for trial before a Palestinian court, and the key is how many of the ones whom Israel say are on their most wanted list of terror suspects will be sent into exile for at least four years into Italy, and the number is now the issue that is at stake. The Palestinians saying they will allow no more than six or seven to be sent into exile. The Israelis saying they want 13 of that number.

This is a deal that is being worked out under the provision of a CIA agent here, and it seems to be in the works. But the question is? Why is it being held up at the last minute? Is it just a question of the battering (ph) of the numbers, or does it factor into that meeting tomorrow that Prime Minister Sharon will have with President Bush at the White House?

It is being called a very key meeting, a very key encounter as the two sides try to get some kind of strategic cooperation going and understanding of how they can move the Palestinian-Israeli confrontation from the bloody phase of the last month and the 18 months indeed of fighting into a political realm.

And there is some speculation, and a good deal perhaps could be well-based, that either side is trying to hold up this deal until tomorrow. Maybe Mr. Sharon wants it off the table before he meets Mr. Bush, that Bethlehem siege. Maybe the speculation is that Yasser Arafat wants to keep it going until that meeting in a way, perhaps to embarrass him and perhaps to confound Mr. Sharon, that he is still pulling the strings, because as you rightly said, the key in that meeting will be the future of Yasser Arafat, how the two sides perceive it. No agreement on that count between the Israelis and the United States -- Carol.

COSTELLO: All right. Jerrold Kessel reporting live for us from Jerusalem this morning -- thanks for bringing us up to date.

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