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CNN Live At Daybreak

Series of Israeli Leaders Meet in U.S.

Aired February 07, 2002 - 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.
CAROL COSTELLO, CNN ANCHOR: Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon is in Washington where he will be meeting with President Bush about the violence in the Middle East.

Mike Hanna, our Jerusalem bureau chief, is in Washington to cover the visit. He tells us what's at stake.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

MIKE HANNA, CNN JERUSALEM BUREAU CHIEF: A flurry of Israeli visitors to the United States. First, Foreign Minister Shimon Peres meets the secretary of state in New York, then the Defense Minister, Binyamin Ben-Eliezer, comes to Washington.

All this a prelude to a meeting later today between the Israeli prime minister and President Bush as diplomatic moves to deal with the Israeli-Palestinian conflict gained a new momentum.

Most unusual, if not most significant, a secret meeting back in Jerusalem between Ariel Sharon and senior Palestinian leaders, news of which was only released three days after the event. Subsequently, most of Sharon's Cabinet members have endorsed the meeting and the Israeli prime minister says there will be further talks after his meeting with President Bush.

LESLIE SUSSER, ISRAELI POLITICAL ANALYST: Sharon wants to signal to the Americans that it's not him that is being totally intransigent, that he is prepared to speak to pragmatic Palestinian leaders. It's just Yasser Arafat, who for Sharon, is the problem.

HANNA: Arafat approved the meeting despite the belief of some analysts that Sharon was attempting to demonstrate his belief that the Palestinian leader was irrelevant.

MAHDI ABDEL HADI, PALESTINIAN POLITICAL ANALYST: Mr. Sharon wanted such a meeting to carry it out with him in Washington, to tell the American administration you see, I can meet other Palestinians, I can discuss more things with them, give me more time to finish Arafat authority (UNINTELLIGIBLE) leadership.

HANNA: Predictably, as violence continues on the ground, Israelis and Palestinians see the Bush-Sharon meeting in very different ways. HADI: The problem with the Sharon visit is he has only a military agenda, only a security arrangement. He does not talk about politics. He does not talk about a settlement. He is not looking for a solution, and his objective is to delay the inevitable: The Palestinian state.

SUSSER: It's not a case of Sharon playing tactical games, which will enable him to get more room to prosecute a war with the Palestinians. He really wants to see that conflict with the Palestinians grow to some sort of final resolution.

HANNA: At the stage, it would appear from Sharon's public pronouncements that he has no intention of involving Arafat in negotiating such a resolution. The Palestinian leader remains confined to his offices in the West Bank city of Ramallah encircled by Israeli forces.

All indications are that in the wake of the Bush-Sharon meeting, the U.S. administration will define what it believes is Arafat's future role after weeks of internal discussion, making clear whether or not it sees the Palestinian leader as a viable partner in Middle East peace negotiations and in the wider war against terror.

Mike Hanna, CNN, Washington.

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