Return to Transcripts main page

CNN Live Today

Bush's Mideast Speech Gets Mixed Reviews

Aired June 25, 2002 - 11:32   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.
LEON HARRIS, CNN ANCHOR: Up first this hour on CNN, President Bush's blueprint for rebuilding the Middle East peace process. Reaction is ranging from favorable to mixed. Some Palestinians are being critical of the president's call for them to remove Yasser Arafat from power.

CNN White House correspondent Kelly Wallace is standing by live at the White House. She's got the latest for us from there -- Kelly.

KELLY WALLACE, CNN WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT: Leon, the Bush administration definitely monitoring all the reaction to President Bush's speech. In the words of senior administration officials, they say that the president put forward his plan for a way out of the violence, and now it is time for all parties, the Israelis, the Palestinians, and the Arab leaders to, quote, "heed his call."

You can also say that the selling of the president's plan is fully under way. The president has left the White House early this morning, as we know. He's making a quick stop in Arizona to tour the fire damage there. But then he heads to Canada, near Calgary, for what's called the Summit of the Wealthiest Nations plus Russia, also known as the G8 summit, and there he will be briefing world leaders on this plan which he unveiled yesterday.

The most controversial part of this, Mr. Bush making it clear that he believes Yasser Arafat, the Palestinian leader, needs to go. Now, the president never mentioned Yasser Arafat by name during his speech yesterday, but he said that peace will require, quote, "new and different Palestinian leadership."

Now, in a sign of just how difficult this will be to accomplish, Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat, in his first public comment since Mr. Bush's speech yesterday, said today that he believes the Palestinian people should be the one to choose their own leaders. Reaction to that from a senior administration official, this official telling me that the president was very clear in his speech, that he believes that the Palestinian people deserve new leaders and that it is time for a reform -- political, economic and judicial reforms of Palestinian institutions.

Now, in that speech, the president also called on the Israelis to take steps, including withdrawing from many of the territories the Israelis recently reoccupied, but the President also saying that that should not really take place until the security situation improves on the ground.

We know Secretary of State Colin Powell has been working the phones, talking in part to Arab leaders. Their support will be crucial and, again, we believe, at some point in time, Secretary Powell could make return to trip to the region, Leon, though nothing scheduled at this point in time -- Leon.

HARRIS: Kelly Wallace at the White House. Thank you very much. Let's move on, now, to the Middle East.

The focal point, here, Israeli forces seized control of a seventh West Bank town today, as troops rolled into Hebron overnight. The military move comes amid political reaction to President Bush's Mideast plan that Kelly just reported on. CNN's Jerrold Kessel has the latest from the region.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

JERROLD KESSEL, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): And, so, even after the president has laid out his vision, the battles go on and intensify. If, in soccer parlance, President Bush is seen to have issued a red card to Yasser Arafat, seeking to get him off the field, the presidential message is also seen as a green light for Ariel Sharon to continue pursuing his war on terror by taking the battle of the Palestinian suicide bombers back into the Palestinian towns.

Palestinians had been hoping the U.S. prescription for their future state would mean Washington putting pressure on Mr. Sharon. Instead, they have to be content with hopeful formulas down the line, an eventual state, and the end to occupation.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Unfortunately, this speech was good only on the level of the principles. It did not present mechanisms of implementation that would be helpful in removing the current Israeli pressure and atrocities against the Palestinians.

KESSEL: During 21 months of battles, Palestinians have been hoping for international involvement to protect them and guarantee their right to statehood. Now, they fear international involvement might mean a dictated road to statehood.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: This is very sensitive because any people, including the Palestinian people, will not be satisfied when anybody from outside would try to interfere in determining their leadership.

KESSEL: For Palestinians, most problematic in the U.S. vision, that the start of Israeli political concessions need only come once the Palestinian have done what's demanded of them, and that's what delights Israel.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: First comes first. First, the Palestinian Authority and the Palestinian people must reform. Reform their ways, reform their institutions, choose peace. Then, Israel will perform, and Israel is willing to make the necessary compromises, painful compromises, for peace. But first, there has to be a clear understanding that terrorism and peace cannot dwell together. KESSEL: Some Israelis, opposed to Ariel Sharon, worry the Bush vision is divorced from Middle East realities, that Yasser Arafat will not simply fade away, and that without political moves now, the region will slide further and further into still more violent confrontation. But the conflict is on a larger scale, says a member of Mr. Sharon's government, welcoming the way the U.S. has put down its marker.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: It's a new system. It's a new ball game. Everybody understands what the Americans are saying. I believe it will have effect on Europe, on the U.N., on Russians, on the other Arabs. I think the President said what he said, understanding what the other moderate Arab leaders think, having learned the situation on the ground. His decision is of great importance. Does it lead immediately to resolution of the conflict? No, it doesn't.

KESSEL (on camera): Indeed, it doesn't. The president's speech, seen by those who laud it as by those who decry it as conflict management, rather than conflict resolution. And that means that this U.S. vision of the future leaves the ongoing battles between the Palestinian suicide bombers and Israel's forceful response to them as still the dominant factor for now.

Jerrold Kessel. CNN, Jerusalem.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

HARRIS: Follow the developments in the Middle East online by logging on to our Web site where you'll find an in-depth special on the history behind the centuries of conflict that embroil that region. That's all at cnn.com. AOL keyword, of course, there is CNN.

TO ORDER A VIDEO OF THIS TRANSCRIPT, PLEASE CALL 800-CNN-NEWS OR USE OUR SECURE ONLINE ORDER FORM LOCATED AT www.fdch.com