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CNN Live At Daybreak

Bush Meets With Arab Leaders

Aired June 03, 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: First up this hour, optimism and anxiety. President Bush is in Egypt trying to get Arab leaders to support the road map to Middle East peace. Talks are already under way in the Red Sea resort town of Sharm el-Sheik. Mr. Bush is meeting with leaders from Egypt, Jordan, Saudi Arabia, Bahrain. And Palestinian Prime Minister Mahmoud Abbas is in the mix, too. And then tomorrow, both Mr. Bush and Mr. Abbas will meet with Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon. That will happen in Jordan.
Arab commitment, that's what President Bush says he hopes to get out of today's peace talks.

For reaction to the high stakes expectations, we take you live to Jerusalem and Jerrold Kessel -- good morning, Jerrold.

JERROLD KESSEL, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Good morning, Carol.

Two days of summitry for the president, at which you could say this is about, or in large degree about the Arab world accepting or acquiescing in the U.S. victory in Iraq in the aftermath of that. At least the U.S. assertive of the United States in the Middle East and now here to try to make peace between the Israelis and the Palestinians, between Israel and the Arab world.

And while Mr. Bush has begun his meetings in Sharm el-Sheik, the Israelis have begun releasing around 100 Palestinian prisoners. These are mostly men who have been in administrative detention. That's detention without trial. So not major Palestinian prisoners, but people who have been held for the last several months. And perhaps more by the Israelis, something of a good will gesture in advance of the second summit tomorrow in Aqaba, the three way summit between the two Israeli and Palestinian prime ministers and the president.

But good will gestures apart, and the effect of this summitry, of trying to make that, translate that peace initiative from a piece of paper into action apart, that is the real essence of what Mr. Bush is trying to set out and to say today, to try to get the Arab leaders not just to sign onto the, support the road map for peace, but to make sure that they do everything they can to support the new Palestinian prime minister, Mahmoud Abbas, in his declared intention to take on and curb Palestinian militants in their actions against Israel.

Now, Mr. Bush will also be meeting later with the Palestinian prime minister himself, the first time that he will have done so, in fact, something different, because he didn't meet at all over the last three years with Palestinian Authority President Yasser Arafat. It will be intriguing to see how the mild mannered 67-year-old Palestinian prime minister handles what the president has declared very flatly, that he means to make it plain to both the Palestinian prime minister and to Ariel Sharon, the Israeli prime minister, that these are not one off meetings, that he means to get them, as he said, to look him in the eye and know that he means business, that he means to go on with this issue and push down the road to peace.

Perhaps then the most intriguing meeting of all tomorrow between the president and Ariel Sharon in Aqaba -- Carol.

COSTELLO: And we'll be following it.

Jerrold Kessel live from Jerusalem this morning.

We'll hear from CNN's State Department producer Elise Labott in the next hour of DAYBREAK. She's going to get a wake up call to talk about today's Middle East peace talks in Egypt.

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 - 05:31   ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
CAROL COSTELLO, CNN ANCHOR: First up this hour, optimism and anxiety. President Bush is in Egypt trying to get Arab leaders to support the road map to Middle East peace. Talks are already under way in the Red Sea resort town of Sharm el-Sheik. Mr. Bush is meeting with leaders from Egypt, Jordan, Saudi Arabia, Bahrain. And Palestinian Prime Minister Mahmoud Abbas is in the mix, too. And then tomorrow, both Mr. Bush and Mr. Abbas will meet with Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon. That will happen in Jordan.
Arab commitment, that's what President Bush says he hopes to get out of today's peace talks.

For reaction to the high stakes expectations, we take you live to Jerusalem and Jerrold Kessel -- good morning, Jerrold.

JERROLD KESSEL, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Good morning, Carol.

Two days of summitry for the president, at which you could say this is about, or in large degree about the Arab world accepting or acquiescing in the U.S. victory in Iraq in the aftermath of that. At least the U.S. assertive of the United States in the Middle East and now here to try to make peace between the Israelis and the Palestinians, between Israel and the Arab world.

And while Mr. Bush has begun his meetings in Sharm el-Sheik, the Israelis have begun releasing around 100 Palestinian prisoners. These are mostly men who have been in administrative detention. That's detention without trial. So not major Palestinian prisoners, but people who have been held for the last several months. And perhaps more by the Israelis, something of a good will gesture in advance of the second summit tomorrow in Aqaba, the three way summit between the two Israeli and Palestinian prime ministers and the president.

But good will gestures apart, and the effect of this summitry, of trying to make that, translate that peace initiative from a piece of paper into action apart, that is the real essence of what Mr. Bush is trying to set out and to say today, to try to get the Arab leaders not just to sign onto the, support the road map for peace, but to make sure that they do everything they can to support the new Palestinian prime minister, Mahmoud Abbas, in his declared intention to take on and curb Palestinian militants in their actions against Israel.

Now, Mr. Bush will also be meeting later with the Palestinian prime minister himself, the first time that he will have done so, in fact, something different, because he didn't meet at all over the last three years with Palestinian Authority President Yasser Arafat. It will be intriguing to see how the mild mannered 67-year-old Palestinian prime minister handles what the president has declared very flatly, that he means to make it plain to both the Palestinian prime minister and to Ariel Sharon, the Israeli prime minister, that these are not one off meetings, that he means to get them, as he said, to look him in the eye and know that he means business, that he means to go on with this issue and push down the road to peace.

Perhaps then the most intriguing meeting of all tomorrow between the president and Ariel Sharon in Aqaba -- Carol.

COSTELLO: And we'll be following it.

Jerrold Kessel live from Jerusalem this morning.

We'll hear from CNN's State Department producer Elise Labott in the next hour of DAYBREAK. She's going to get a wake up call to talk about today's Middle East peace talks in Egypt.

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