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CNN Live Sunday

Violence in Israel Prompts Bush to Move Up Meeting With Sharon

Aired December 02, 2001 - 18:07   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: A wave of violence in Israel this weekend prompted President Bush to move up his scheduled meeting with Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon, and CNN's John King joins us from the White House with more on this story -- John.

JOHN KING, CNN SENIOR WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT: Well, Donna, the president called these deadly bombings in his words, quote, "horrific acts of murder." Mr. Bush came back from Camp David early for that meeting with the Israeli prime minister.

The administration saying it is encouraged by what it hears so far in recent hours. Words of some arrests from the Palestinian Authority, but they are making very clear here at the Bush White House tonight that they need to see a very sustained effort from the Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat, not only to round up those responsible for these specific bombings but also, in the view of the Bush White House, to do much, much more to bring an end to the violence.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

GEORGE W. BUSH, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: This is a moment where the advocates for peace in the Middle East must rise up and fight terror. Chairman Arafat must do everything in his power to find those who murdered innocent Israelis and bring them to justice.

KING (voice-over: A meeting with Israel's prime minister was moved from Monday to Sunday, and the agenda changed as well. Mr. Bush had hoped to nudge Prime Minister Sharon to relax his demands of seven days of quiet before embracing a cease-fire with the Palestinians. Instead, Mr. Bush used the one-hour meeting to voice condolences and promise solidarity, and the traditional calls for Israeli restraint were absent from the administration's public statements.

COLIN POWELL, SECRETARY OF STATE: Mr. Sharon is a freely elected leader of a democratic nation, and he will responded in a way that he thinks is appropriate.

KING: The prime minister cut short his U.S. visit to rush home for an emergency cabinet meeting. Advisers suggest a firm response is certain.

DORE GOLD, ISRAELI P.M. SHARON'S SPOKESMAN: Israel will have to do what's necessary to protect the people of Israel from the escalating violence, emanating from areas under the jurisdiction of Yasser Arafat.

KING: Secretary of State Powell openly questioned Mr. Arafat's authority and credibility, and said in a phone conversation with the Palestinian leader he warned him promises to crack down on groups like Hamas and Islamic Jihad is not enough.

POWELL: Bring them the justice, arrest them and keep them in jail. Not just arrest them, and then they disappeared and back on the street in a few days' time. But more than that, he has to go after future perpetrators.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

KING: The timing of this potentially devastating, senior officials say, to a new effort by the Bush administration to try to broker an Israeli-Palestinian cease-fire. The president's new special envoy to the Middle East, retired Marine General Tony Zinni is in the region, he has been studying and meeting with the leaders for this past week. He will stay there for now, but in the words of one senior official, "we were hardly optimistic to begin with, and now this" -- Donna.

KELLEY: John King, our senior White House correspondent, thank you.

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