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CNN Live Today
Sharon-Abbas Summit
Aired May 30, 2003 - 11:30 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: Turning now to the Middle East, the Israeli and Palestinian leaders huddled for several hours last night. Prime Ministers Ariel Sharon and Mahmoud Abbas had no breakthroughs to announce after talking, but they were both upbeat following their meeting. The two leaders are expected to sit down next week with President Bush.
CNN's John Vause joins us now live from Ramallah with a progress report on the latest peace efforts -- John.
JOHN VAUSE, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Hello, Leon.
Actually I'm in Jerusalem now.
But as far as that meeting goes last night, which was here into Jerusalem, Palestinian and Israeli officials describe it as a genuine effort to get this peace process moving forward, especially before they move to Jordan to meet with the U.S. president, George W. Bush.
And last night, at that meeting, Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon put forward a number of offers to his Palestinian counterpart to try and ease conditions for Palestinians who have been virtually confined to their villages and cities for the last few months, among them easing travel restrictions for Palestinians, offering 25,000 work permits, releasing 100 Palestinian prisoners, even releasing some of the tax revenue for the Palestinian Authority, which was impounded by Israel.
Ariel Sharon even offering to withdraw forces from the northern parts of the Gaza Strip and some areas of the West Bank, providing the Palestinian Authority can maintain security in those areas, but the Palestinian prime minister, Mahmoud Abbas, very cautious about that, not sure if the Palestinian Authority's security forces can actually maintain, can crackdown on those militant groups.
So instead, he says he's working on a cease-fire, with groups like Hamas and Islamic Jihad. He says could he have that cease-fire in place in the next few days, and for the Israelis a cease-fire isn't good enough. There's fear here in Israel, any cease-fire would give those organizations a chance to simply regroup and rearm. So the Israelis are demanding from the Palestinians a crackdown. They want known militants to be arrested, they want their weapons confiscated, and they want the terrorist infrastructure, as they call it, to be dismantled.
Once again, the Palestinian Prime Minister Mahmoud Abbas not sure if he's in any position to do that at this stage. And as you mention, Leon, no major breakthroughs last night, no breakthroughs on things like the issue of a freeze on Israeli settlement activity in the West Bank and in Gaza.
But an interesting report, among Israelis, support is growing for a Palestinian state. A newspaper poll out today shows 57 percent of Israelis now support a Palestinian state. Now that's up 6 percent in just 10 days -- Leon.
HARRIS: That makes a strong majority then. Thanks, John. John Vause reporting from Jerusalem, and not Ramallah. Thank you, John. We'll see you soon.
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 30, 2003 - 11:30 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
LEON HARRIS, CNN ANCHOR: Turning now to the Middle East, the Israeli and Palestinian leaders huddled for several hours last night. Prime Ministers Ariel Sharon and Mahmoud Abbas had no breakthroughs to announce after talking, but they were both upbeat following their meeting. The two leaders are expected to sit down next week with President Bush.
CNN's John Vause joins us now live from Ramallah with a progress report on the latest peace efforts -- John.
JOHN VAUSE, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Hello, Leon.
Actually I'm in Jerusalem now.
But as far as that meeting goes last night, which was here into Jerusalem, Palestinian and Israeli officials describe it as a genuine effort to get this peace process moving forward, especially before they move to Jordan to meet with the U.S. president, George W. Bush.
And last night, at that meeting, Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon put forward a number of offers to his Palestinian counterpart to try and ease conditions for Palestinians who have been virtually confined to their villages and cities for the last few months, among them easing travel restrictions for Palestinians, offering 25,000 work permits, releasing 100 Palestinian prisoners, even releasing some of the tax revenue for the Palestinian Authority, which was impounded by Israel.
Ariel Sharon even offering to withdraw forces from the northern parts of the Gaza Strip and some areas of the West Bank, providing the Palestinian Authority can maintain security in those areas, but the Palestinian prime minister, Mahmoud Abbas, very cautious about that, not sure if the Palestinian Authority's security forces can actually maintain, can crackdown on those militant groups.
So instead, he says he's working on a cease-fire, with groups like Hamas and Islamic Jihad. He says could he have that cease-fire in place in the next few days, and for the Israelis a cease-fire isn't good enough. There's fear here in Israel, any cease-fire would give those organizations a chance to simply regroup and rearm. So the Israelis are demanding from the Palestinians a crackdown. They want known militants to be arrested, they want their weapons confiscated, and they want the terrorist infrastructure, as they call it, to be dismantled.
Once again, the Palestinian Prime Minister Mahmoud Abbas not sure if he's in any position to do that at this stage. And as you mention, Leon, no major breakthroughs last night, no breakthroughs on things like the issue of a freeze on Israeli settlement activity in the West Bank and in Gaza.
But an interesting report, among Israelis, support is growing for a Palestinian state. A newspaper poll out today shows 57 percent of Israelis now support a Palestinian state. Now that's up 6 percent in just 10 days -- Leon.
HARRIS: That makes a strong majority then. Thanks, John. John Vause reporting from Jerusalem, and not Ramallah. Thank you, John. We'll see you soon.
TO ORDER A VIDEO OF THIS TRANSCRIPT, PLEASE CALL 800-CNN-NEWS OR USE OUR SECURE ONLINE ORDER FORM LOCATED AT www.fdch.com
