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CNN Live At Daybreak

Bush Intent on Pursuing Middle East Peace

Aired April 01, 2002 - 06:06   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: President Bush has condemned the latest suicide bombings, targeting Israeli civilians, but he says the attacks will not deter him from pursuing peace.

CNN White House correspondent Major Garrett reports there are more calls for a stepped-up American role.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

MAJOR GARRETT, CNN WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Dawn near the president's Crawford, Texas ranch, and as he headed into church with his father and mother to celebrate Easter, this: Fresh evidence from Israel about the limits of continued U.S. denunciations of Palestinian terrorism.

Death, injuries and anguish in Haifa and a Jewish settlement in the West Bank, a bloody rejoinder to this urgent request of Yasser Arafat from the president on Saturday.

GEORGE W. BUSH, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: We've got to make it absolutely clear that the Palestinian Authority does not support these terrorist activities and use their security forces to prevent them from happening.

GARRETT: But that didn't happen. When Arafat met with supporters and reporters on Sunday, the issue was the Israeli occupation, which Arafat compared to the brutality of the Nazis.

YASSER ARAFAT, PRESIDENT, PALESTINIAN AUTHORITY: We are in need of urgent sending international forces to stop this aggression and this escalation -- military escalation against our people, against our cities, against our parents, against our refugee camps.

GARRETT: But the White House opposes international security forces, especially involving U.S. troops, and the immediate security concern is protecting Americans in the Middle East, who may fall victim to future suicide attacks. State Department sources tell CNN a security review is under way.

The Israeli leader, Ariel Sharon, said his nation is at war, and that even when a cease-fire was close, the Passover massacre left negotiations in ruins.

ARIEL SHARON, ISRAELI PRIME MINISTER (through translator): The only thing we have had in return for our efforts have been terrorism, terrorism, and more terrorism.

GARRETT: As the death toll rises and political desperation deepens, calls increased for the president to dispatch Secretary of State Colin Powell to the region.

SENATOR JOSEPH BIDEN (D), DELAWARE: I think there needs to be something dramatic done, and that means the president has to step up his involvement. I know Zinni is there, but I think the secretary has to be more visible, and the Arab states have to be more visible.

GARRETT (on camera): But the White House argues the issue is Palestinian terrorism, not whether Powell or presidential envoy, Anthony Zinni, leads cease-fire talks. Once more, the White House fears dispatching Powell now would reward the very acts of terrorism the president has repeatedly tried to do discourage.

Major Garrett, CNN, Crawford, Texas.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

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