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CNN Live At Daybreak

U.S. Walks Fine Line Between Arab World and Israel

Aired November 12, 2001 - 06:37   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.
LEON HARRIS, CNN ANCHOR: Now to fall off the radar screen, perhaps on the very edge of it in this war on terrorism is this delicate balancing act the U.S. is maintaining in the Middle East keeping Israel and the Arab world in the anti-terror coalition despite their differences.

Our State Department Correspondent Andrea Koppel reports this morning on how that balancing act may have gotten even more precarious.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

ANDREA KOPPEL, CNN STATE DEPARTMENT CORRESPONDENT: It wasn't the photo opportunity Yasser Arafat had been hoping for, but for now a meeting with Secretary of State Powell was the best the U.S. had to offer.

YASSER ARAFAT (through translator): Deepest appreciation for President George W. Bush and his declaration in his statement yesterday about the necessity to achieve a just peace.

KOPPEL: A day earlier President Bush became the first Republican president to put the force of his administration behind a Palestinian state.

GEORGE W. BUSH, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: We're working toward a day when two states, Israel and Palestine live peacefully together.

KOPPEL: Yet the president was not willing to meet the likely leader of that future state or even shake his hand, a snub which Arafat aides say deeply injured him. Arab allies have also told Secretary Powell their support for the U.S.-led war against terrorism is in danger unless the president meets with Arafat soon to demonstrate U.S. even handiness in mediating an Israeli-Palestinian peace.

But the U.S. won't break with Israel, which insists Arafat must do more to end the violence before a presidential meeting happens.

SHIMON PERES: I think that the demand upon Yasser Arafat is to implement what he is saying, because he took it upon himself to have a cease fire, and the fire did not cease. KOPPEL: Sensing the need to give the peace process a shove, U.N. Secretary General Kofi Anan called an emergency meeting between the European Union, the Russians, and the U.S. during which Secretary Powell defended U.S. policy.

COLIN POWELL, SECRETARY OF STATE: We are looking for opportunities to become more actively engaged and in the days and weeks ahead I think you will see us do more toward that end.

KOPPEL: But for the moment the U.S. has decided to maintain the status quo, figuring any new policy pronouncements could do more harm than good. The dilemma for the Bush administration, how to keep Israel and the Arab world on board the coalition against terrorism when any action the U.S. takes appears destined to anger one side or the other.

Andrea Koppel, CNN, the United Nations.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

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