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CNN Live At Daybreak

Road Map to Peace: White House Reaction

Aired May 26, 2003 - 06:36   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: The president has also been focusing on the so-called "road map to peace" in the Middle East. Israel has now accepted the U.S.-backed plan, and that is huge.
White House correspondent Suzanne Malveaux joins us live from Washington with the latest.

Good morning -- Suzanne.

SUZANNE MALVEAUX, CNN WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT: Good morning, Carol.

Well, you're right, it is huge. The Bush administration very pleased about this development. It's good news, and the White House applauding that move from yesterday. We heard from a White House spokesman, Adam Levine, who said -- and I am quoting here. He says: "It's an important step forward. We look forward to working with all parties in the region."

Now, as you know, of course, Carol, it also clears the way for a possible Middle East summit with President Bush meeting with Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon, as well as the new Palestinian prime minister, Mahmoud Abbas. Already U.S. officials saying they are setting up a -- sending an advanced team to set up for a possible summit, perhaps in Charm el-Sheikh, Egypt, but also there are some other sites, perhaps in Jordan or even Geneva, Switzerland.

But this is really far from a done deal. The U.S. is looking at -- they want a relative period of calm before they move forward with this summit. And also some U.S. officials are looking for some clear signs from Israelis and Palestinians that there is a good faith effort to move forward in that road map. They want to see the Israelis basically lift some of those economic sanctions against the Palestinians. They want the Palestinians to crack down on those fundamentalists.

So, these are just some of the things that U.S. officials are looking for in the weeks to come before they make that critical decision, the final decision of whether or not the president is going to be meeting with those two leaders in early June -- Carol.

COSTELLO: The Israeli government accepted the plan with conditions attached. Is the White House at all concerned about that?

MALVEAUX: Well, that's a very good point, because the cabinet said that under no circumstances would they accept Palestinian refugees back into Israel; that it just wasn't on the table. But you have to recognize that there are various stages in this whole road map. There are potentially three stages, and they'll get to that when they get to that.

Essentially, they are looking forward to the first stage: Are they going to see basically a cessation of these terrorist attacks in that area? Are they going to see the Israelis pulling back on those settlements and lifting those economic sanctions? They'll deal with the first phases first, and then eventually they'll get to that last phase. That's one of the things that's considered in the last phase.

But as you know, Carol, that the administration just last Friday said they would take Israel's concerns into consideration.

COSTELLO: Understand. Suzanne Malveaux live from D.C. this morning, many thanks.

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 26, 2003 - 06:36   ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
CAROL COSTELLO, CNN ANCHOR: The president has also been focusing on the so-called "road map to peace" in the Middle East. Israel has now accepted the U.S.-backed plan, and that is huge.
White House correspondent Suzanne Malveaux joins us live from Washington with the latest.

Good morning -- Suzanne.

SUZANNE MALVEAUX, CNN WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT: Good morning, Carol.

Well, you're right, it is huge. The Bush administration very pleased about this development. It's good news, and the White House applauding that move from yesterday. We heard from a White House spokesman, Adam Levine, who said -- and I am quoting here. He says: "It's an important step forward. We look forward to working with all parties in the region."

Now, as you know, of course, Carol, it also clears the way for a possible Middle East summit with President Bush meeting with Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon, as well as the new Palestinian prime minister, Mahmoud Abbas. Already U.S. officials saying they are setting up a -- sending an advanced team to set up for a possible summit, perhaps in Charm el-Sheikh, Egypt, but also there are some other sites, perhaps in Jordan or even Geneva, Switzerland.

But this is really far from a done deal. The U.S. is looking at -- they want a relative period of calm before they move forward with this summit. And also some U.S. officials are looking for some clear signs from Israelis and Palestinians that there is a good faith effort to move forward in that road map. They want to see the Israelis basically lift some of those economic sanctions against the Palestinians. They want the Palestinians to crack down on those fundamentalists.

So, these are just some of the things that U.S. officials are looking for in the weeks to come before they make that critical decision, the final decision of whether or not the president is going to be meeting with those two leaders in early June -- Carol.

COSTELLO: The Israeli government accepted the plan with conditions attached. Is the White House at all concerned about that?

MALVEAUX: Well, that's a very good point, because the cabinet said that under no circumstances would they accept Palestinian refugees back into Israel; that it just wasn't on the table. But you have to recognize that there are various stages in this whole road map. There are potentially three stages, and they'll get to that when they get to that.

Essentially, they are looking forward to the first stage: Are they going to see basically a cessation of these terrorist attacks in that area? Are they going to see the Israelis pulling back on those settlements and lifting those economic sanctions? They'll deal with the first phases first, and then eventually they'll get to that last phase. That's one of the things that's considered in the last phase.

But as you know, Carol, that the administration just last Friday said they would take Israel's concerns into consideration.

COSTELLO: Understand. Suzanne Malveaux live from D.C. this morning, many thanks.

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