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American Morning

White House Support for Sharon Eroding

Aired April 11, 2002 - 07:41   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.
PAULA ZAHN, CNN ANCHOR: As you probably know, Secretary of State Colin Powell arrives in Israel later today in his continuing search for peace. He will meet with Prime Minister Ariel Sharon; also plans to meet with Yasser Arafat, despite Sharon's claim that would be a -- quote -- "tragic mistake."

But this morning, there is word that the White House is very unhappy that Israel's prime minister is not moving faster to get its troops out of the West Bank, and the "Washington Post" actually cites senior White House aides as saying Sharon's hard-line position is eroding support for his position.

That brings us to our big question this hour: Is the U.S. losing faith in Sharon? Joining us right now, CNN's senior political analyst Bill Schneider, who joins us from Washington -- good to see you again, Bill.

WILLIAM SCHNEIDER, CNN SENIOR POLITICAL ANALYST: Good morning, Paula.

ZAHN: Good morning. So what do you make of this report in the "Washington Post," where they actually quote a senior aide to President Bush as saying, "Senior White House aides are beginning to express doubt whether the Israeli leader can be a long-term partner in achieving the administration's goals in the Middle East?"

SCHNEIDER: Well, I think what's happening in the administration is they are making a distinction between support for Prime Minister Sharon and support for Israel, and they are trying to at least put out the argument that Sharon's policies, the administration feels are incompatible or at least detrimental to the administration's long-term goal which is to fight the war on terrorism against Iraq and other state sponsors.

But on the other hand, they are still committed to the security of Israel. It is a strong show of disapproval of what Sharon insists on doing now in the West Bank.

ZAHN: So walk us through the process the administration might go through if they think the goals are incompatible. What do you do about that?

SCHNEIDER: Well, it's very tough. What they are doing and what they hope to do with Secretary Powell is to put pressure, diplomatic pressure, economic pressure, whatever kind of pressure they can, delicately, because it's Israel after all. They are putting pressure on Israel to limit their military incursion into the West Bank, to discontinue this operation and to begin political negotiations with the Palestinians.

Now, that is the sticking point, because of course, the Palestinians have always felt that terrorism is an instrument of politics. That it's a way to achieve their goals. One Palestinian said, I believe last week, that for us, suicide bombing is what the F- 16 is for Israel. It's a way in which we achieve what we want.

And the Israelis are fearful that what the United States is doing is giving in to that. They are making concession to terrorists by essentially saying, you give a cease-fire, you stop the suicide bombings and the attacks, and we'll talk about what your political goals are. That's outrageous to Israelis, but it does look like what the administration is inclined to do right now.

ZAHN: And, Bill, I don't think there is anyone who said that more forcefully than the former prime minister of Israel, Benjamin Netanyahu, yesterday, as he spoke before senators in Washington. And he likened Israel's fight or position to that of the U.S. in its fight against terrorism. And here was his warning, essentially if the U.S. continued to do business with Yasser Arafat -- let's listen.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

BENJAMIN NETANYAHU, FMR.ISRAELI PRIME MINISTER: If we do not shut down the terror factories that Arafat is hosting, those terror factories that are producing human bombs, it is only a matter of time before suicide bombers will terrorize your cities here in America. If not destroyed, this madness will strike in your buses, in your supermarkets, in your pizza parlors, in your cafes. Eventually, it is not impossible that those human bombs will supplement their murderous force with suitcases equipped with devices of mass death that could make the horrors of September 11 seem pale by comparison.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

ZAHN: All right, Bill, so you have Mr. Netanyahu saying some very tough things. He essentially came to defend Israel's offensive right now, but at the same time, he essentially said America's peace initiative is a failure. What is he trying to accomplish?

SCHNEIDER: What he is trying to accomplish is to say that Israel is fighting the same war as the United States. In fact, he many times used President Bush's own words to say that what Bush is trying to get Israel to do is incompatible with the war on terrorism, whose goals Bush articulated last September. He is saying that what Israel is doing against Arafat is the same thing that the United States is doing against the Taliban and al Qaeda in Afghanistan. It's the same war.

Well, of course, that's the crux of the matter. Is what Prime Minister Sharon and the Israeli military are doing in the West Bank, is it part of the war on terrorism, or is it incompatible with the war on terrorism? There are a lot of voices telling the president, Arab voices, European voices, diplomatic voices, that what Israel is doing will hurt the war on terrorism, because it will turn the entire Arab and Muslim world against the United States, and it will make it much more difficult for the United States to pursue a campaign against Saddam Hussein. That's really the core of the issue.

ZAHN: We can't separate the message Netanyahu was sending, though, from what some say was simply a bold political statement. He made it very clear when he was prime minister that none of this violence happened. Is he, too, undercutting Ariel Sharon?

SCHNEIDER: Well, I wouldn't say that. I think he is in the same political party as Sharon. He would like to succeed Sharon. He may even run against Sharon in the party primary next year. What he is trying to do is to take credit for the war and what he expects to be the Israeli victory, so that it will be his victory as well as Sharon's.

ZAHN: As always, we like your perspective, and thank you for joining us this morning.

SCHNEIDER: Sure.

ZAHN: See you, Bill.

SCHNEIDER: OK.

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