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Kelly Wallace: 'It's unclear where the two sides go from here'

CNN's Kelly Wallace
CNN's Kelly Wallace

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JERUSALEM (CNN) -- After a rash of deadly suicide attacks this weekend by bombers dressed as religious Jews, Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon has cancelled a meeting with President Bush in Washington. Sharon is launching a renewed campaign against the man his government says is responsible for the latest violence: Palestinian President Yasser Arafat.

CNN anchor Heidi Collins discussed the developing situation with CNN correspondent Kelly Wallace.

WALLACE: Sharon huddled with his top advisers this evening, convening an emergency Cabinet meeting to discuss steps Israel might take after four terror attacks this weekend, including three suicide bombings. Some decisions were made, including [one to restrict] all Palestinian access into Israel from the West Bank as well as from Gaza.

Also, the prime minister and his advisers discussed Arafat and decided on a new policy. From now on, according to senior Israeli officials, any foreign dignitary who plans a meeting with the Palestinian president in Ramallah [West Bank] will not get a meeting with any other Israeli officials. This is part of the Israeli government's move to try to isolate Arafat. Israeli officials believe any meetings that diplomats have with Arafat only undermine new Palestinian Prime Minister Mahmoud Abbas.

There were also some cabinet ministers calling for the expulsion of Arafat from the area, but we're told Sharon is not going to pursue such a move right now, believing it is better to keep Arafat in Ramallah as opposed to allowing him to travel around the world. Now, the Israeli position is that Arafat is encouraging such attacks as the ones we saw over the weekend, including the deadliest early Sunday morning when that bus bomber got on a bus dressed as an Orthodox Jew, according to Israeli police, and blew himself up, killing seven people six Israelis as well as one Arab, a Palestinian man living in a refugee camp not too far from the neighborhood.

The Palestinian position is that the Israelis' actions in the West Bank and Gaza, the military incursion, the closures, all of these things, are contributing to lots of anger in the Palestinian territories and are also not allowing Abbas [who is also known as Abu Mazen] to really have the standing and the political power to stand up to these radical Palestinian groups, such as Hamas, to try to encourage them to stop these attacks.

Right now, it's unclear where the two sides go from here. The Israeli officials say Sharon would still like to meet again with Abbas, whom he met with Saturday night. [It is] also unclear when Sharon will make the trip to Washington, though Israeli officials say they're hoping to reschedule the meeting as soon as possible.

COLLINS: Kelly, if it is indeed true that Arafat is undermining Abbas, is there anything that Abbas can do now to try to further the peace process?

WALLACE: One thing [would be to] deliver a little bit to the Palestinian people. He doesn't have a very strong standing when it comes to the Palestinian community. He's not very popular. He doesn't have a strong political base. One thing he needs is to show the Palestinian people he is delivering for them, and that is why Palestinians say they were very frustrated in the meeting Saturday night, because they believe until Israel accepts and starts implementing the so-called Middle East "road map" to peace, the Palestinians really don't have [the] political power again to stand up to these groups and try to get things done. So Abbas will be hoping to get something from the Israelis down the road. Right now, what the Israelis are saying is that they hope to talk and meet again, but it's not clear when that will be.


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