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CNN Live At Daybreak
Bush Headed for Egypt Today
Aired June 02, 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: Terrorism and the world economy are among the issues they're zeroing in on at the G8 summit in France today. President Bush has already made some headway. He got European countries to match U.S. money in the fight against AIDS and he had a cordial meeting with French President Jacques Chirac, a chief adversary leading up to the Gulf War.
Mr. Bush will leave France this afternoon for Egypt and meetings with Arab leaders and he hopes to use the meetings to push forward the U.S.-backed Israeli-Palestinian peace plan.
CNN's Jerrold Kessel joins us live now from Jerusalem -- good morning, Jerrold.
JERROLD KESSEL, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Good morning, Carol.
And the beginning of a week of Middle East summitry, a critical week for that new Middle East peace initiative and the week of summitry is, of course, the week of President George W. Bush, because coming straight from the G8 summit, where he cut short his visit, as you said, he heads to Sharm el-Sheikh, the Egyptian resort on the Red Sea.
The meetings begin tomorrow with the Arab allies of the United States, where Mr. Bush will be asking them to line up firmly in support of the so-called road map to peace between Israelis and Palestinians, and more than that, to give more vocal and active support for the Palestinian Prime Minister Mahmoud Abbas in backing that road map so that he can fulfill his part of the bargain and take on Palestinian militants to curb them from continuing their attacks on Israelis.
For their part, the Arab leaders will be looking for a fresh commitment from the U.S. leader that he is in this all the way and he's up to the hilt in his personal commitment to go down that peace road and that he won't back off, they want him to say, if the obstacles that appear on the peace road turn out to be more than obstacles and real sizable bumps.
And then on Wednesday Mr. Bush heads for the Jordanian resort of Aqaba on the Red Sea. There to meet in a four, or a four way summit with his host, King Abdullah of Jordan, and the Israeli prime minister, Ariel Sharon, together with Palestinian Prime Minister Mahmoud Abbas. And we understand that at that meeting in Aqaba, after bilateral meetings, the four will be meeting together and then issue, each one, separate statements, because so far they've not been able to come up with an agreed joint statement on how to proceed down the peace road. And also there will be no questions allowed from reporters at that meeting after the four leaders make their statements.
That's to underline that even though the differences remain, the president is determined that the peace road become activated and not only that we have declarations of support for the road map but that they, the two leaders, Mahmoud Abbas and Ariel Sharon, start translating that into practice.
And to underline that, the United States, we understand, will be sending at least a dozen monitors to the area, to the West Bank and Gaza, to see that the two sides are, indeed, living up to their parts of the bargain once they begin to implement that road map.
So an ambitious project as the summit, week's summit begins here in the Middle East -- Carol.
COSTELLO: Jerrold Kessel live from Jerusalem.
Many thanks.
Just click onto our Web site for a complete look at the G8 summit. You know the address, 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 June 2, 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: Terrorism and the world economy are among the issues they're zeroing in on at the G8 summit in France today. President Bush has already made some headway. He got European countries to match U.S. money in the fight against AIDS and he had a cordial meeting with French President Jacques Chirac, a chief adversary leading up to the Gulf War.
Mr. Bush will leave France this afternoon for Egypt and meetings with Arab leaders and he hopes to use the meetings to push forward the U.S.-backed Israeli-Palestinian peace plan.
CNN's Jerrold Kessel joins us live now from Jerusalem -- good morning, Jerrold.
JERROLD KESSEL, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Good morning, Carol.
And the beginning of a week of Middle East summitry, a critical week for that new Middle East peace initiative and the week of summitry is, of course, the week of President George W. Bush, because coming straight from the G8 summit, where he cut short his visit, as you said, he heads to Sharm el-Sheikh, the Egyptian resort on the Red Sea.
The meetings begin tomorrow with the Arab allies of the United States, where Mr. Bush will be asking them to line up firmly in support of the so-called road map to peace between Israelis and Palestinians, and more than that, to give more vocal and active support for the Palestinian Prime Minister Mahmoud Abbas in backing that road map so that he can fulfill his part of the bargain and take on Palestinian militants to curb them from continuing their attacks on Israelis.
For their part, the Arab leaders will be looking for a fresh commitment from the U.S. leader that he is in this all the way and he's up to the hilt in his personal commitment to go down that peace road and that he won't back off, they want him to say, if the obstacles that appear on the peace road turn out to be more than obstacles and real sizable bumps.
And then on Wednesday Mr. Bush heads for the Jordanian resort of Aqaba on the Red Sea. There to meet in a four, or a four way summit with his host, King Abdullah of Jordan, and the Israeli prime minister, Ariel Sharon, together with Palestinian Prime Minister Mahmoud Abbas. And we understand that at that meeting in Aqaba, after bilateral meetings, the four will be meeting together and then issue, each one, separate statements, because so far they've not been able to come up with an agreed joint statement on how to proceed down the peace road. And also there will be no questions allowed from reporters at that meeting after the four leaders make their statements.
That's to underline that even though the differences remain, the president is determined that the peace road become activated and not only that we have declarations of support for the road map but that they, the two leaders, Mahmoud Abbas and Ariel Sharon, start translating that into practice.
And to underline that, the United States, we understand, will be sending at least a dozen monitors to the area, to the West Bank and Gaza, to see that the two sides are, indeed, living up to their parts of the bargain once they begin to implement that road map.
So an ambitious project as the summit, week's summit begins here in the Middle East -- Carol.
COSTELLO: Jerrold Kessel live from Jerusalem.
Many thanks.
Just click onto our Web site for a complete look at the G8 summit. You know the address, 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
