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CNN Live Sunday
President Bush Meets With Israeli Prime Minister Sharon
Aired December 02, 2001 - 16:06 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.
DONNA KELLEY, CNN ANCHOR: President Bush has condemned the bombing attacks in Israel. And as we mentioned earlier, Mr. Bush held the meeting with the Israeli prime minister this morning. CNN's senior White House correspondent John King is with us with details -- John.
JOHN KING, CNN SENIOR WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT: Donna, that meeting was to be tomorrow, but the president rushed back from Camp David, came here to the White House to meet with Prime Minister Sharon in the noon hour today, because the prime minister wants to rush back to Israel for an emergency cabinet meeting.
As Mr. Bush came off Marine One on the ground of the White House, his frustration quite evident. He came over and delivered a brief statement to reporters. He called these bombings "horrific acts of murder." He said, "Mr. Arafat must act now and must act decisively to bring those responsible to justice." And this comes, of course, as Jerrold Kessel just noted, at the beginning of new administration effort to bring the two parties at least to a cease-fire. The president's frustration quite evident as he spoke to reporters earlier today here at the White House.
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GEORGE W. BUSH, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: Clearly, there are some in the world who do not want us to achieve peace in the Middle East. Clearly, there are some at every chance they have, they will use violence and terror to disrupt any progress that's being made. We must not allow them to succeed. We must not allow terror to destroy the chance of peace in the Middle East.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
KING: Mr. Bush went from that statement into the Oval Office. Here, you see a photograph of one-hour meeting with the Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon. Mr. Bush's original plan was to try to nudge Mr. Sharon to back away from his demand that there must be seven days of quiet before he will agree to have a cease-fire with the Palestinians. Instead, because of these latest bombings, Mr. Bush offering condolences to the Israeli leader, promising him solidarity.
And interesting, missing from any of the administration's public statements, the traditional calls for Israeli restraint in the wake of the attack. Usually, the administration urges Israel to show restraint. All that absent from the administration's public statements today. Most of those statements directed clearly at the Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat. The Secretary of State Colin Powell, he spoke to Mr. Arafat by telephone, demanded that he immediately round up those responsible, but then the secretary of state making the rounds of the Sunday talk shows said bringing those to justice responsible for these specific attacks is not enough.
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COLIN POWELL, SECRETARY OF STATE: He has to go after future perpetrators, he has to go after these organizations that are training and preparing these suicide bombers and preparing for further, future acts of violence.
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KING: Now, the president's special envoy, General Zinni, will stay in the region at the least for now. But a great sense of frustration, again, here at the White House. Just as they began this new diplomatic push, once again -- and this is a familiar story -- once again, deadly violence throwing everything into question in the Middle East -- Donna.
KELLEY: John, the administration has said to Mr. Arafat this go- around, you are the leader, let's see some action. Any talk about whether or not the administration has any confidence, whether or not Arafat can get the violence under control?
KING: The administration has repeatedly questioned whether Mr. Arafat has the authority, has the credibility to stop Hamas, to stop the Palestinian Islamic Jihad. Secretary Powell today publicly questioning whether Mr. Arafat has control of his own people.
This now a clear test from the administration to Mr. Arafat, saying that arrests are not enough, that he must show a sustained commitment to stopping the violence. Obviously, the administration right now at the moment that it hoped to bring the two sides together focusing most of its attention in the wake of these deadly bombings on Mr. Arafat; and yes, openly questioning whether he's up to the job.
KELLEY: All right, our senior White House correspondent John King. Thanks as usual.
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