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CNN Live At Daybreak

Tomorrow Big Day for Palestinian Prime Minister Designate

Aired April 28, 2003 - 05:34   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.


CAROL COSTELLO, CNN ANCHOR: On to Israel now. Tomorrow is the big day for the Palestinian prime minister designate and his cabinet. They're all expected to be confirmed. But today, Abu Mazen threw what some call a roadblock in front of the road map for peace and it involves Yasser Arafat.
CNN's Jerrold Kessel joins us live to Jerusalem to explain -- hello, Jerrold.

JERROLD KESSEL, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Good morning, Carol.

An interesting development, you could say an interesting challenge, this from the Palestinian Prime Minister Designate Abu Mazen, because just a day before or 36 hours before the convening of the Palestinian parliament to confirm his cabinet that was worked out last week with the agreement of Yasser Arafat, Abu Mazen has said that he will not travel abroad for diplomatic consultations unless the isolation that has been imposed on Yasser Arafat is lifted, unless he's allowed out of his Mukata headquarters in Ramallah.

Now, this against the backdrop of that meeting tomorrow, where Abu Mazen's cabinet is expected to be confirmed. This is an interesting development in that, again, it throws center stage the big question of just how much Yasser Arafat has been shunted aside, or has he not been shunted aside, and the fact that Abu Mazen has to look very carefully still at the position of the Palestinian Authority president -- Carol.

COSTELLO: Yes, and you bring up such an intriguing point, Jerrold. Is Yasser Arafat still in the game? Many people just want him out of the picture altogether.

KESSEL: Well, certainly the Israelis do. Certainly Washington does. And what you said at the beginning, that this is a puzzle, remains a puzzle, that is the question in the wake of last week's deal, you could say, that was done as Mr. Arafat came under enormous international pressure to give way, to back off and to allow Abu Mazen to form the cabinet as he wanted to do so.

Some saw it as a compromise and the question is was there really a delicately delivered bloodless coup to Yasser Arafat or was this the veteran, the wily veteran Palestinian leader fighting back very engagingly to maintain his position?

Well, one of those amazing and very intriguing pictures from that meeting last week, we saw Yasser Arafat as they announced the deal in, with the Egyptian envoy who was here, smiling broadly, very buoyant; Abu Mazen, on the other hand, very glum. And the question that arose from that is who won, who lost. Was Yasser Arafat shunted aside? Does Abu Mazen have the kind of authority, the kind of power to go ahead with the kind of policies he says he wants to deliver?

And I think the jury must still be out.

Yasser Arafat, I think we can say, has made clear that those who wanted to count him out may have been counting too early. On the other hand, Abu Mazen, after that expected confirmation tomorrow and the delivery of the much awaited international peace plan, the road map to peace being delivered after that, will be in position and there could be a new momentum which maybe could ease Yasser Arafat aside -- Carol.

COSTELLO: Maybe.

Jerrold Kessel reporting live from Jerusalem this morning.

We'll talk more about the Middle East road map to peace in the next hour when we give a wake up call to our State Department producer Elise Labott.

And go to our Web site for a special report on the crisis in the Middle East, the region's issues, people, history and more in the land of conflict. All of that at cnn.com, AOL keyword: 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






Aired April 28, 2003 - 05:34   ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
CAROL COSTELLO, CNN ANCHOR: On to Israel now. Tomorrow is the big day for the Palestinian prime minister designate and his cabinet. They're all expected to be confirmed. But today, Abu Mazen threw what some call a roadblock in front of the road map for peace and it involves Yasser Arafat.
CNN's Jerrold Kessel joins us live to Jerusalem to explain -- hello, Jerrold.

JERROLD KESSEL, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Good morning, Carol.

An interesting development, you could say an interesting challenge, this from the Palestinian Prime Minister Designate Abu Mazen, because just a day before or 36 hours before the convening of the Palestinian parliament to confirm his cabinet that was worked out last week with the agreement of Yasser Arafat, Abu Mazen has said that he will not travel abroad for diplomatic consultations unless the isolation that has been imposed on Yasser Arafat is lifted, unless he's allowed out of his Mukata headquarters in Ramallah.

Now, this against the backdrop of that meeting tomorrow, where Abu Mazen's cabinet is expected to be confirmed. This is an interesting development in that, again, it throws center stage the big question of just how much Yasser Arafat has been shunted aside, or has he not been shunted aside, and the fact that Abu Mazen has to look very carefully still at the position of the Palestinian Authority president -- Carol.

COSTELLO: Yes, and you bring up such an intriguing point, Jerrold. Is Yasser Arafat still in the game? Many people just want him out of the picture altogether.

KESSEL: Well, certainly the Israelis do. Certainly Washington does. And what you said at the beginning, that this is a puzzle, remains a puzzle, that is the question in the wake of last week's deal, you could say, that was done as Mr. Arafat came under enormous international pressure to give way, to back off and to allow Abu Mazen to form the cabinet as he wanted to do so.

Some saw it as a compromise and the question is was there really a delicately delivered bloodless coup to Yasser Arafat or was this the veteran, the wily veteran Palestinian leader fighting back very engagingly to maintain his position?

Well, one of those amazing and very intriguing pictures from that meeting last week, we saw Yasser Arafat as they announced the deal in, with the Egyptian envoy who was here, smiling broadly, very buoyant; Abu Mazen, on the other hand, very glum. And the question that arose from that is who won, who lost. Was Yasser Arafat shunted aside? Does Abu Mazen have the kind of authority, the kind of power to go ahead with the kind of policies he says he wants to deliver?

And I think the jury must still be out.

Yasser Arafat, I think we can say, has made clear that those who wanted to count him out may have been counting too early. On the other hand, Abu Mazen, after that expected confirmation tomorrow and the delivery of the much awaited international peace plan, the road map to peace being delivered after that, will be in position and there could be a new momentum which maybe could ease Yasser Arafat aside -- Carol.

COSTELLO: Maybe.

Jerrold Kessel reporting live from Jerusalem this morning.

We'll talk more about the Middle East road map to peace in the next hour when we give a wake up call to our State Department producer Elise Labott.

And go to our Web site for a special report on the crisis in the Middle East, the region's issues, people, history and more in the land of conflict. All of that at cnn.com, AOL keyword: 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