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American Morning
Sharon Meets with Bush as Israeli Forces Enter Ramallah
Aired June 10, 2002 - 07:13 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 the Israeli Defense Force is continuing their latest incursion into the West Bank town of Ramallah, Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon is set to begin meetings with President George Bush. This as a new CNN-USA Today Gallup Poll shows that a majority of Americans believe that neither Sharon nor Arafat genuinely, genuinely wants peace.
Senior White House correspondent, John King, joins us now with a preview of the Sharon visit -- good morning, John. First off, the Israeli army is saying that this incursion has netted some 27 Palestinian terrorism -- terrorists that is. How is this likely to impact on the visit between Mr. Sharon and Bush?
JOHN KING, CNN SENIOR WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT: Well, White House officials, Paula, are saying very little about the incursion so far, except to say that the United States did not receive a heads-up. One senior administration official said, let's take a wait-and-see attitude, saying that in the past, some of these incursions have only lasted a day or so.
But you see the shelling here in Ramallah. The Israeli Defense Forces once again rolling in and now surrounding the compound of the Palestinian leader, Yasser Arafat. If nothing else, it significantly complicates the already difficult and delicate diplomacy President Bush facing here today.
As you mentioned, Prime Minister Sharon, in town. He is staying right across the street at Blair House. He will be here at the White House in just a little bit, his sixth meeting in less than 16 months with the U.S. president. Mr. Sharon comes here after reiterating over the weekend that he does not support a full-scale comprehensive peace agreement right now. Mr. Sharon saying that the Palestinian Authority is not trustworthy, and that he prefers another interim agreement, one that could perhaps last a generation. That of course leaves him at odds with the U.S. position, at odds with the position of the Arab world.
Prime Minister Sharon also saying over the weekend that he sees no scenario under which Israel would withdraw to its 1967 borders. That, of course, leaves him directly at odds with the major new Arab peace proposal put forward by Saudi Arabia. So President Bush trying to broker these differences.
His meeting with Sharon comes after a session over the weekend up at Camp David with the Egyptian president, Hosni Mubarak. Again, that underscores the difficulty. President Mubarak wants U.S. support for the early declaration of a Palestinian state. Prime Minister Sharon will come here today and say he does not support that. President Mubarak wants Israel to pull back to the 1967 borders, as do other leaders across the Arab world. Prime Minister Sharon will come here this morning and say he is not prepared to do that.
So a very difficult diplomacy for the president. Everyone looking to see if out of this meeting comes a timetable for a Middle East conference later this summer. U.S. officials, though, playing down that. As much as they would like to have that meeting, they say they would like to have an agreement first on an agenda, before you try to bring everyone together and just have a meeting collapse in failure -- Paula.
ZAHN: So, John, while you say there is no official White House response to this latest Israeli incursion, what is the expectation there? How might President Bush react to this when he sits down with Mr. Sharon?
KING: Well, President Bush has said consistently that Israel has a right to defend itself, and in the wake of suicide bombings, it has the right to take defensive measures.
We do know that the national security adviser, Condoleezza Rice, called Prime Minister Sharon directly late last week and urged Israel to act with restraint. And we do know that U.S. officials have said it is extraordinarily difficult to get any hope toward a political dialogue between the Israelis and the Palestinians, if you have the Israeli troops surrounding the Arafat compound, the Palestinian compound in Ramallah.
At the same time, once again over the weekend, President Bush said that he has little faith at all in Yasser Arafat. So the president on the one hand wants the Israeli troops out, yet on the other hand, he has repeatedly recognized Israel's right to defend itself, and repeatedly voiced his profound disappointment that Mr. Arafat has not himself done more to improve security.
ZAHN: All right. Thanks so much, John -- see you a little bit later on this morning.
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