Bush, Powell Meet With Israeli Prime Minister Sharon; Secretary of State Prepares for Middle East Trip
LOU WATERS, CNN ANCHOR: The Bush administration focuses on Mideast diplomacy on a couple of fronts. President Bush and Secretary of State Powell will meet separately with the Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon today as Powell prepares to leave for the Mideast. In New York, yesterday, Sharon reiterated that he will not proceed with peace talks until the violence by Palestinians is stopped. Senior correspondent John King is at the White House. John, what can we expect out of these meetings with Sharon and the president?</s>JOHN KING, SENIOR WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT: Well, Lou, the administration is hoping diplomacy at the highest levels can, at a minimum, keep in place the very fragile cease-fire between the Israelis and the Palestinians. There has been some deadly violence despite that cease-fire agreement, but the administration hopes that the president's one-on-one meeting with Prime Minister Ariel Sharon in a few hours here at the White House will win a renewed Israeli commitment to show restraint. The administration says it applauds the Israeli move so far. More important, though, in the eyes of the administration, is that trip you mentioned by Secretary Powell to the region. He will meet with Mr. Sharon and other Israeli officials. He will also meet with the Palestinian leader, Yasser Arafat. Even though this cease- fire is very fragile at the moment, Secretary Powell's mission is to determine whether the parties are ready to take the next step. In that recently finished report by former Senator George Mitchell, his commission suggested first a cease-fire -- again, a very fragile one in place right now -- and then an official cooling-off period. The administration, we're told, favors about five or six weeks of continued cease-fire, and during that cooling-off period, conversations about other so-called confidence-building measures. The administration's focus, though, in the short term, is keeping that cease-fire in place, then perhaps the cooling-off period, and then very controversial items. The confidence-building measures might include an Israeli commitment to stop expanding settlements, in the West Bank and Gaza, for example. But as the secretary embarks on this trip, and first, as the president meets the prime minister, the tensions in the region, the mistrust between the parties is not engendering a great deal of optimism in the highest levels of the administration -- Lou.</s>WATERS: John, after initially standing off, the administration now appears to be what I guess we could call fully engaged in the Middle East business.</s>KING: That is certainly the case, although the Palestinians would argue that this is unfair at the moment. They say this is Mr. Sharon's second visit to this White House in five months; where's the invitation to the Palestinian leader, Yasser Arafat? The White House responds that they believe, this administration believes, Mr. Arafat can do more to keep calm in the region, to round up and arrest suspected militants -- those accused of inspiring violence against Israel. The administration says until Mr. Arafat does more, in its view, there will be no such invitation extended for him to come here to the White House, although he will meet with Secretary Powell on this week's high stakes trip to region.</s>WATERS: John King, at the White House. TO ORDER A VIDEO OF THIS TRANSCRIPT, PLEASE CALL 800-CNN-NEWS OR USE OUR SECURE ONLINE ORDER FORM LOCATED AT www.fdch.com