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CNN Live At Daybreak
Bush in Sharm el-Sheik
Aired June 03, 2003 - 05:08 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: Now to President Bush's personal peace mission. Today in Egypt, Mr. Bush will ask Arab leaders, including Palestinian Prime Minister Mahmoud Abbas, to support the road map for Middle East peace. And then tomorrow Mr. Bush and Mr. Abbas will take the talks one step farther and meet with Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon. That will happen in Jordan.
For more on today's summit in the Egyptian Red Sea resort of Sharm el-Sheik, let's check in with CNN's Dana Bash -- good morning, Dana.
DANA BASH, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Hi, Carol.
Well, at this hour, President Bush is set to meet at a multilateral talks with six Arab leaders. He started the day, however, with a meeting with his host here in Sharm el-Sheik. That is, of course, Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak. At the beginning of the meeting, cameras were let in to capture it, but Mr. Bush was asked by a reporter and did not answer one of the key questions of this summit here, and that is will he be successful in propping up the new Palestinian prime minister, Mahmoud Abbas, and sidelining Yasser Arafat from this process.
Now, it may not be explicitly stated as such, but effectively eliminating Yasser Arafat is one of the goals here. Now, from the Palestinians' point of view, they say what they want to come out of this meeting here is a commitment to the process from the U.S. president.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
NABIL SHA'ATH, PALESTINIAN FOREIGN MINISTER: We need, first of all, to see President Bush continue what looks like really a real involvement and engagement in the Arab-Israeli question. And that involvement is clear with this conference and with the conference in Aqaba. We would like him to continue that role as supporter of this peace process, to push to get it implemented on the ground. We want the Arabs to help do that.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
BASH: Now, U.S. officials hope to come away from this summit with statements from leaders, especially Mahmoud Abbas, condemning the violence and terrorism that we have seen over the last 32 months in the region. Also, they hope to get and probably will get commitments from the Arab leaders backing the U.S. backed road map to peace and the White House does believe that getting that commitment and getting that support is absolutely essential for broad and long lasting peace between Israelis and Palestinians.
Now, the president does hope that this particular summit here will help to give momentum for his big meeting tomorrow, and that will be in Aqaba, Jordan. He will sit down for the first time with both Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon and the Palestinian prime minister in order to try to get things started on that road map to peace -- Carol.
COSTELLO: Dana Bash reporting live from Sharm el-Sheik 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 June 3, 2003 - 05:08 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
CAROL COSTELLO, CNN ANCHOR: Now to President Bush's personal peace mission. Today in Egypt, Mr. Bush will ask Arab leaders, including Palestinian Prime Minister Mahmoud Abbas, to support the road map for Middle East peace. And then tomorrow Mr. Bush and Mr. Abbas will take the talks one step farther and meet with Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon. That will happen in Jordan.
For more on today's summit in the Egyptian Red Sea resort of Sharm el-Sheik, let's check in with CNN's Dana Bash -- good morning, Dana.
DANA BASH, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Hi, Carol.
Well, at this hour, President Bush is set to meet at a multilateral talks with six Arab leaders. He started the day, however, with a meeting with his host here in Sharm el-Sheik. That is, of course, Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak. At the beginning of the meeting, cameras were let in to capture it, but Mr. Bush was asked by a reporter and did not answer one of the key questions of this summit here, and that is will he be successful in propping up the new Palestinian prime minister, Mahmoud Abbas, and sidelining Yasser Arafat from this process.
Now, it may not be explicitly stated as such, but effectively eliminating Yasser Arafat is one of the goals here. Now, from the Palestinians' point of view, they say what they want to come out of this meeting here is a commitment to the process from the U.S. president.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
NABIL SHA'ATH, PALESTINIAN FOREIGN MINISTER: We need, first of all, to see President Bush continue what looks like really a real involvement and engagement in the Arab-Israeli question. And that involvement is clear with this conference and with the conference in Aqaba. We would like him to continue that role as supporter of this peace process, to push to get it implemented on the ground. We want the Arabs to help do that.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
BASH: Now, U.S. officials hope to come away from this summit with statements from leaders, especially Mahmoud Abbas, condemning the violence and terrorism that we have seen over the last 32 months in the region. Also, they hope to get and probably will get commitments from the Arab leaders backing the U.S. backed road map to peace and the White House does believe that getting that commitment and getting that support is absolutely essential for broad and long lasting peace between Israelis and Palestinians.
Now, the president does hope that this particular summit here will help to give momentum for his big meeting tomorrow, and that will be in Aqaba, Jordan. He will sit down for the first time with both Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon and the Palestinian prime minister in order to try to get things started on that road map to peace -- Carol.
COSTELLO: Dana Bash reporting live from Sharm el-Sheik 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
