Return to Transcripts main page
CNN Live At Daybreak
Scheduling Conflicts Delay Mideast Summit
Aired May 22, 2003 - 05:31 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: Scheduling conflicts have prompted Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon and Palestinian Prime Minister Mahmoud Abbas to postpone their expected meeting today. But they do say their summit will happen by the end of the week.
CNN's Jerrold Kessel joins us live from Jerusalem with more updates on the road to peace in the region -- good morning, Jerrold.
JERROLD KESSEL, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Good morning, Carol.
Well, if anyone thought it would be smooth driving down that road to peace now that the road map has been endorsed by the Israelis, albeit with reservations, after the Palestinians had accepted the internationally approved U.S.-backed peace initiative, well, they're mistaken again, because there had been a summit plan between the two prime ministers for tomorrow in Jerusalem. This after they had met 10 days ago, very inconclusively, not a particularly successful summit. Now that the Israelis had accepted the road map it seemed that there would be room for the two sides to try to begin working on moving towards implementation.
But now, citing scheduling problems, they have called off the summit for now, although the Palestinians say they're hopeful it might happen before the end of the week. But it's not been rescheduled as of yet and each side saying the other side called for the postponement. But Israel very firm that the Palestinians are the ones who asked for it.
It's not clear how much we should read into this, but for the moment, the two prime ministers will not be meeting. And perhaps that may be just as well, because it's clear that if anyone can make them move down this road, it will be the United States. And what is being penciled in, perhaps almost being inked in now, are two summits for President Bush in the area, one with the two prime ministers in probably Jordan with King Abdullah hosting it, and one with the United States' Arab allies to try to get them to keep prodding the two sides, the Palestinians and the Israelis, down that peace road.
But for the moment, the two prime ministers are not meeting -- Carol.
COSTELLO: A question for you, though, Jerrold. Israel is using some interesting terminology. Sharon used the word occupation as it applied to the Palestinian territories. That's something he's never done before, right?
KESSEL: It's almost revolutionary. It is revolutionary, you could say, for someone with Mr. Sharon's ideological background, his political leanings. The fact that a right-wing prime minister would refer to Israel's presence, as the Israelis have always said, in the West Bank as occupation. And Mr. Sharon used that O word, occupation, several times, as if he was pinching himself that he was actually saying it when he tried to rebuff criticism from his right-wing Likud Party is certainly a dramatic thing, at least on the declaratory level. Whether it goes further than that, because it should be pointed out that while Mr. Sharon said we must end the occupation of Palestinians, the three and a half million Palestinians, he didn't say of the West Bank. And he went on to say that he still supports settlement building in the Jewish settlements in parts of the West Bank.
So the idea then seems to be Mr. Sharon saying let the Palestinians get on in their areas, but the Israelis and the Jewish settlements will still be there if Mr. Sharon has his way.
But certainly in psychological terms a very, very different statement and it could have major impact on peace building, at least on the psychological level -- Carol.
COSTELLO: Yes, we'll see.
Jerrold Kessel live from Jerusalem this morning.
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 May 22, 2003 - 05:31 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
CAROL COSTELLO, CNN ANCHOR: Scheduling conflicts have prompted Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon and Palestinian Prime Minister Mahmoud Abbas to postpone their expected meeting today. But they do say their summit will happen by the end of the week.
CNN's Jerrold Kessel joins us live from Jerusalem with more updates on the road to peace in the region -- good morning, Jerrold.
JERROLD KESSEL, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Good morning, Carol.
Well, if anyone thought it would be smooth driving down that road to peace now that the road map has been endorsed by the Israelis, albeit with reservations, after the Palestinians had accepted the internationally approved U.S.-backed peace initiative, well, they're mistaken again, because there had been a summit plan between the two prime ministers for tomorrow in Jerusalem. This after they had met 10 days ago, very inconclusively, not a particularly successful summit. Now that the Israelis had accepted the road map it seemed that there would be room for the two sides to try to begin working on moving towards implementation.
But now, citing scheduling problems, they have called off the summit for now, although the Palestinians say they're hopeful it might happen before the end of the week. But it's not been rescheduled as of yet and each side saying the other side called for the postponement. But Israel very firm that the Palestinians are the ones who asked for it.
It's not clear how much we should read into this, but for the moment, the two prime ministers will not be meeting. And perhaps that may be just as well, because it's clear that if anyone can make them move down this road, it will be the United States. And what is being penciled in, perhaps almost being inked in now, are two summits for President Bush in the area, one with the two prime ministers in probably Jordan with King Abdullah hosting it, and one with the United States' Arab allies to try to get them to keep prodding the two sides, the Palestinians and the Israelis, down that peace road.
But for the moment, the two prime ministers are not meeting -- Carol.
COSTELLO: A question for you, though, Jerrold. Israel is using some interesting terminology. Sharon used the word occupation as it applied to the Palestinian territories. That's something he's never done before, right?
KESSEL: It's almost revolutionary. It is revolutionary, you could say, for someone with Mr. Sharon's ideological background, his political leanings. The fact that a right-wing prime minister would refer to Israel's presence, as the Israelis have always said, in the West Bank as occupation. And Mr. Sharon used that O word, occupation, several times, as if he was pinching himself that he was actually saying it when he tried to rebuff criticism from his right-wing Likud Party is certainly a dramatic thing, at least on the declaratory level. Whether it goes further than that, because it should be pointed out that while Mr. Sharon said we must end the occupation of Palestinians, the three and a half million Palestinians, he didn't say of the West Bank. And he went on to say that he still supports settlement building in the Jewish settlements in parts of the West Bank.
So the idea then seems to be Mr. Sharon saying let the Palestinians get on in their areas, but the Israelis and the Jewish settlements will still be there if Mr. Sharon has his way.
But certainly in psychological terms a very, very different statement and it could have major impact on peace building, at least on the psychological level -- Carol.
COSTELLO: Yes, we'll see.
Jerrold Kessel live from Jerusalem this morning.
TO ORDER A VIDEO OF THIS TRANSCRIPT, PLEASE CALL 800-CNN-NEWS OR USE OUR SECURE ONLINE ORDER FORM LOCATED AT www.fdch.com
