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CNN Sunday Morning
White House Gears Up for Intense Diplomacy
Aired May 05, 2002 - 11:04 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.
JONATHAN KARL, CNN CORRESPONDENT: The White House is gearing up for intense diplomacy. Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon heads to Washington. Mr. Sharon reportedly has a peace plan that will offer new concessions on Palestinian statehood. CNN Senior White House Correspondent John King joins us live with the latest. John.
JOHN KING, CNN SENIOR WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT: And, Jonathan, White House officials anxiously awaiting the Tuesday meeting between President Bush and Prime Minister Sharon. And yes, senior U. S. officials confirm to us that Prime Minister Sharon and his staff have made clear he will come to the White House with some new ideas.
White House aides saying they're very anxious to see them, but they also say some of the conditions the prime minister is attaching to his view of how to move forward toward peace, the White House knows those conditions will be troubling, not only to the Palestinians, but throughout the Arab world, that indeed to some degree here at the White House as well.
One key goal of this meeting is to convince Prime Minister Sharon that he doesn't have to like or trust Yasser Arafat, but in the view of this White House, that he has to deal with him because Mr. Arafat remains the leader of the Palestinian people.
Still, the Bush White House also sending signals daily now to Yasser Arafat that its patience is almost running out with him. Condoleezza Rice, the President's national security adviser earlier today, speaking to CNN's Wolf Blitzer, says Mr. Arafat must step up and must lead the Palestinian people and must do it now.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
CONDOLEEZZA RICE, NATIONAL SECURITY ADVISER: He needs to do more and it's not just on this issue of terrorism. It's on the issue of the Palestinian Authority's institutions and how they work. It's on the question of money going to the Palestinian Authority. Transparency and good governance is being demanded of every country in the world by this President, and the Palestinian Authority is going to have to start to meet some of those standards if it going to be a foundational element for a new Palestinian State moving forward.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
KING: Congress asserted itself in this debate in the past week, both the House and the Senate passing resolutions overwhelmingly endorsing Israel's strategy, criticizing the Palestinians, as the administration prepares for those high stakes meetings this week, not only with Prime Minister Sharon but also with Jordan's King Abdullah.
Senator Bob Graham of Florida, he's the chairman of the Senate Intelligence Committee, he says he does not see a great deal of coherence out of this administration when it comes to the Middle East.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
U. S. SENATOR BOB GRAHAM, SENATE INTELLIGENCE COMMITTEE: He was sent to the Middle East without much preparation, without a set of goals that were realistically subject to accomplishment, and apparently once he was there, there were various, either public or back channel statements that were made to the parties with whom he was meeting, which were not reinforcing, not consistent with the message that he was delivering.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
KING: But he, Senator Graham, referring to there the Secretary of State Colin Powell. White House officials reject that criticism. They say Secretary Powell has the President's full support, that both are on the same page as they go forward. They do acknowledge, though, it's a very dicey situation in the Middle East and sometimes the plans change from day to day. Jon.
KARL: Well, John, that criticism from Senator Graham interesting, because we didn't hear any of that in the immediate aftermath of Powell's visit. Now he's back a couple weeks and we hear the criticism.
But I wanted to ask you, we know that Sharon is coming with this peace plan that he's saying is going to have major concessions in terms of Palestinian statehood. What does the White House expect to see in Sharon's peace plan?
KING: White House officials say they are expecting the prime minister to come with a map of his own, if you will, say this is what I see as a Palestinian State. But they also say they are not expecting a timetable for Mr. Sharon, just a goal to move forward, and the reason for that, they say, is Mr. Sharon continues to insist that Yasser Arafat can not be the leader of a Palestinian State, that Yasser Arafat is aligned with terrorists in Israel's view.
Yasser Arafat is corrupt in Israel's view. So the White House trying to get over that first hurdle, if you will, to get Mr. Sharon to deal with Mr. Arafat at least in the short term. The White House says, if you can not get over that hurdle, it's very hard to see anyone negotiating a peace agreement.
KARL: All right, well John King, thank you very much.
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