Kelly Wallace: Mideast breakthrough for Bush

(CNN) -- The Bush administration spent the weekend trying to bring about an agreement to help end the standoff at Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat's compound in the West Bank city of Ramallah.

CNN Correspondent Kelly Wallace discussed the efforts Monday with CNN anchor Paula Zahn.

WALLACE: Well, Paula, this is really the first major breakthrough for the Bush administration since it stepped up its engagement in the Middle East over the past month. President Bush clearly wanted to come out and tout this achievement [Sunday], making a statement.

He got on the phone on Saturday with Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon to convince Israel to accept this U.S. compromise, and Secretary of State Colin Powell spoke with Yasser Arafat [on Sunday]. White House officials though did not reveal those phone calls until both leaders accepted the plan.

IN-DEPTH  CNN NewsPass Video    •  Palestinian politics  MORE STORIES   •  IDF: Arms workshops destroyed in Rafah  EXTRA INFORMATION   •  Gallery: Palestinian fatalities  RESOURCES   •  Victims of terror   •  TIME.com: Orchestrating a common ground

Paula, as you said, Yasser Arafat is agreeing to allow U.S. and British monitors to oversee the imprisonment of those six Palestinian militants who remain inside his Ramallah headquarters. Israel, for its part, agreed to pull its troops out of Ramallah and also allow Yasser Arafat to move freely around.

Now President Bush touted this development as a hopeful sign, but he also put the onus on Yasser Arafat, who has said that he can't really crack down on terror while he is confined to his Ramallah headquarters. [Here is the president speaking:]

BUSH: Mr. Arafat must perform. Mr. Arafat must do his job. I have called upon Mr. Arafat in the past. I will continue to call upon Mr. Arafat to lead. Somebody asked me one time a while ago, they said, "Has he disappointed you? Has he lost your respect?" I said, "Well, he hasn't earned my respect yet."

WALLACE: It is believed that the Saudis also put some pressure on Yasser Arafat. President Bush spoke [Sunday] with Crown Prince Abdullah of Saudi Arabia. This development should help U.S. credibility in the Arab world because many Arab leaders have questioned whether the United States was using its influence to convince Israel to withdraw.

Big obstacles remain. That is resolving the standoff in Bethlehem and getting Israel to withdraw from other West Bank towns. More discussions [are] to continue when the Israeli prime minister is expected to come to Washington and meet with Mr. Bush, probably sometime next week.

CNN: Well, let's talk about U.S. pressure now on Israel to withdraw its forces from the occupied territories because overnight we know that the Israelis rolled into Hebron. Any reaction by the White House about that latest incursion?

WALLACE: I was just talking with a senior official about that, who said, no reaction just yet. The administration is trying to ascertain the facts on the ground, but of course, this [is] coming after the agreement that the president was touting [Sunday]. And, Paula, you will recall President Bush on Friday, he was saying it is time for the military offensive by Israel to end now.

So clearly, there will be more pressure to get Israel to withdraw its troops from Bethlehem, from Hebron and from other West Bank towns.

U.S. officials clearly believe the only way to get the two sides to start talking about security issues and then somehow -- somehow start talking about political issues -- is for the offensive to come to an end. So expect more pressure, more diplomacy, and that should be a subject of conversation during the meeting with the prime minister next week.