Powell to Spearhead Renewed Push for Negotiations in Middle East
CAROL LIN, CNN ANCHOR: Well, Secretary of State Colin Powell will spearhead a renewed push to get both sides talking in the Middle East. As the administration pushes toward some kind of progress, CNN's John King is standing by at the White House today. John, what's the feedback from the White House so far?</s>JOHN KING, CNN SENIOR WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT: And, Carol, despite that criticism, U.S. officials say it is critical that Secretary Powell start first with Arab leaders he will meet. He begins his trip tonight and he will meet first with the Saudi Crown Prince Abdullah, who recently put forward a new peace initiative. He will also meet with the Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak, and Jordan's King Abdullah. What Secretary Powell wants from them, we are told by senior U.S. officials, is support, pressure on Yasser Arafat to do more to stop the attacks against Israel, and also public statements from moderate Arab leaders, if possible, to have them condemn violence as any means of settling the Israel-Palestinian dispute. Secretary Powell saying today he leaves with relatively modest expectations. Yes, down the road he would like the Palestinians and the Israelis to begin talking about some sort of a political dialog that ultimately brings them to a peace process once again, but for now Secretary Powell says his goal is simply a cease-fire.</s>COLIN POWELL, SECRETARY OF STATE: I would hope that as a result of my trip, and when I finally get to Jerusalem, we may be in a position where the level of activity we are now seeing will have dropped to a point where the two sides can begin talking to one another again about entering into the Tenet Work Plan.</s>KING: The Tenet Work Plan, of course, named for the CIA Director George Tenet. That calls first for a cease-fire, then increased security cooperation and then conversations about a political dialog and a peace process. As Secretary Powell heads to the region, Arab leaders already because the Israeli offensive continues, questioning U.S. influence and U.S. credibility, because President Bush said end the Israeli offensive without delay and it continues. In the Arab world, Secretary Powell expected to be asked why isn't Israel listening to the United States. Because of those questions, the President's National Security Adviser Condoleezza Rice saying earlier today that Israel must very quickly end its military activities.</s>CONDOLEEZZA RICE, NATIONAL SECURITY ADVISER: Without delay means without delay. It means now. As a matter of fact, I think the President used the word "now" with Prime Minister Sharon. Obviously, the withdrawal needs to be orderly. We understand that. Anybody understands that, but the President expects to see results and to see that happening as soon as possible. Without delay means without delay.</s>KING: Also unclear as of now is whether Secretary Powell will sit down face-to-face with the Palestinian Leader Yasser Arafat. Most U.S. officials believe by the end of the trip that will happen. They know they will face severe criticism, not only from the Palestinians but other Arab leaders if it does not happen. But Secretary Powell saying today a number of issues need to be resolved first, among them security issues, Mr. Arafat confined to Ramallah, unclear whether the Secretary of State would want to head into that environment, but the special envoy General Zinni has done so. U.S. officials say the number one reason they have not committed to that meeting right now is, over the next several days, they want Mr. Arafat to do more to stop the violence. Carol.</s>LIN: So, John, the picture that you just painted is that Colin Powell goes to the Middle East but his schedule is wide open and nobody really knows what's going to happen next.</s>KING: Well, they have this scripted out and they hope, they hope that the Israeli offensive, as we heard in Jerrold Kessel's piece, will be largely over, almost completely over by the time Mr. Powell hits the ground in Morocco, certainly by the time he reaches Jerusalem at the end of the trip. They expect there to be no more offensive military actions, but that, of course, results -- it depends not only on the Israelis pulling back, but on there not being any major new attacks. So, he wants to impress upon Arab leaders that they must pressure Mr. Arafat to stop the violence, to do more, and Mr. Powell will meet with him only if he sees evidence that that is happening. So yes, there is some uncertainty and very modest expectations. Once again, these are two parties, the Israelis and the Palestinians, that clearly don't trust each other, two leaders who clearly don't like each other. U.S. officials say the best they can hope for is out of such a high level trip by the Secretary of State is to get an agreement on a cease-fire and then from there, hope that cease-fire holds and hope from there you can make slow and steady progress.</s>LIN: John, what are the chances that the Israeli government is going to keep Arafat from meeting with Powell, even if Secretary Powell wants to do so?</s>KING: Nil. No one here at the White House believes the Israeli government would stop a meeting unless there are a series of major attacks between now and then that the Israelis blame directly on Mr. Arafat. That could be a complication, but if the Secretary of State of the United States says he wants to meet with Mr. Arafat, the full expectation is that Israel will do everything it can to bring about that meeting, to allow for that meeting, and to help with the security arrangements for that meeting.</s>LIN: All right. Thank you very much, John King, live with us 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 Middle East>