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American Morning

Israeli Prime Minister to Meet Bush Tomorrow

Aired May 06, 2002 - 08:03   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: Up front this morning, Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon will meet with President Bush tomorrow, armed with a new peace plan and what he says is evidence proving Yasser Arafat is a terrorist.

CNN senior White House correspondent John King joins us now with more on this upcoming meeting -- good morning, John.

JOHN KING, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Good morning to you, Paula.

Prime Minister Sharon already here in Washington. He arrived yesterday afternoon. He meets today with other senior administration officials, all that in preparation for that big White House meeting you mentioned tomorrow.

U.S. officials say they believe Prime Minister Sharon does have some new ideas about how he would like the peace process to move forward. They consider them more thoughts and ideas than they do an actual formal Israeli plan. And, as you noted, the Israeli prime minister also disturbing, his government disturbing this report. It runs about 100 pages and the Israeli government says it provides direct evidence that Yasser Arafat and his top deputies in the Palestinian Authority are directly responsible for terrorist attacks.

Now, because of what is in this report, Mr. Sharon's case to President Bush is that he should not have to deal with Yasser Arafat. Much like President Bush says he will not deal with terrorists, Prime Minister Sharon says he should not have to negotiate with terrorists. That is the major point of contention heading into this meeting here at the White House.

The administration says it agrees with much of the evidence in this report, that it agrees that Arafat, at least implicitly, and top deputies, are involved in terrorism. But the White House bottom line is this -- Yasser Arafat is the recognized leader of the Palestinian people. The United States and Israel cannot make him go away, and that if there is to be peace, or even just a cease-fire between the Israelis and the Palestinians, Mr. Sharon and the United States, like it or not, need to deal with Mr. Arafat -- Paula.

ZAHN: And let's talk a little bit about the timing of what's going on at the Church of the Nativity and the status of those talks and how this all might play into the timing of Ariel Sharon's visit to Washington. KING: U.S. officials are deeply involved in those negotiations. They had hoped for a breakthrough last night. They believe it is imperative to resolve that crisis -- the last remaining military stand-off, if you will, in the Palestinian territories -- before Mr. Sharon makes it here at the White House. The reason is the president wants to look forward. He does not want to debate the Israeli military incursions any longer. He wants to tell Prime Minister Sharon let's move forward, get all of the Israeli troops out of the Palestinian territories, then you will be able to put a burden on Mr. Arafat to deliver on his promises to crack down on terrorism.

The White House also wants Mr. Sharon to show some good will, if you will, by easing economic restrictions on the Palestinians. The longer the stand-off continues, the more the White House views it as a distraction. They hope to have all that resolved in the hours ahead.

ZAHN: Thanks so much, John King.

The president was pretty funny over the weekend, wasn't he?

KING: He was pretty funny. Those are fun dinners to have a good laugh and I saw Jack enjoying it. If I'm around next year, maybe we'll get Jack a ticket.

ZAHN: OK.

Thanks, John.

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