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CNN Live At Daybreak

Road Map to Peace Skeptics

Aired June 04, 2003 - 06:30   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.


CAROL COSTELLO, CNN ANCHOR: Palestinians and Israelis, though, are equally skeptical of the negotiations under way right now in Jordan, and we are covering the reaction from both sides.
CNN's Jerrold Kessel is standing by live at a Jewish settlement near the West Bank town of Ramallah. John Vause is with us live from a Palestinian neighborhood in Arab East Jerusalem.

John -- we start with you. Good morning.

JOHN VAUSE, CNN CORRESPONDENT: And good morning to you, Carol.

Well, the Palestinians aren't hopeful that this road map will end in any lasting peace, and it seems that that's one of the few things that they agree with the Israelis on. But they say that they have to give it a go, they have to see where this road map will take them.

But what they're saying immediately, if you want to show the Palestinians some results, well, let's ease up those travel restrictions, let's tear down things like this wall just over here. This is a wall that was built by the Israelis in September of last year.

If we just pan off over here, we see a gentleman, who has been actually up on this fence. He's been there for like the last 15 minutes. And just to the left of him, you can see the Israeli soldiers. Well, that's a Palestinian man. He's trying to go into East Jerusalem. The Israelis are there stopping him. He doesn't have the correct paperwork. And, in fact, if he wanted to go into East Jerusalem, well, he'd have to drive along this road over here, and it would take him about 30-40 minutes, and only then if he had the valid work permits could he, in fact, get into Jerusalem.

There are about 3.5 million Palestinians. Only about 100,000 or so have the valid work permits to travel into Israel. The rest are being confined to villages like this, unable to see their family and friends and other Palestinian towns. So, what these people are saying: if you want this road map to work, ease those travel restrictions.

Now, for more on this story, let's head over to Jerrold Kessel -- Jerrold.

JERROLD KESSEL, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Thanks, John.

We're here right in the heart of the West Bank, and one of the big issues, of course, that needs to be addressed in the first phase of the road map is the question of the Jewish settlements; that Israel is obliged under the terms of the peace initiative to do away, to disband those 100 odd or so small, built-up outposts, some of them illegal, some of them quasi-legal outposts, and to freeze settlement activity in the other big settlements.

And I think if we look behind us here at one single settlement in the expansion of Israeli settlement activity over the last three decades or so, we'll get a picture of what exactly the peacemakers are up against if they try to have to tackle this question of the settlements. If we zoom our camera in beyond us here on those red roofs in the distance, that's the settlement of Ofra. That's one of the biggest settlements in the West Bank that was set up right here in the heart of the area, in the heart of Palestinian, a densely- populated Palestinian area, set up about 30 years ago.

And the people have since then began expanding their settlement. And what's happened -- this is also, of course, in the heart of what the Israelis and the settlers call the "heart of the biblical land of Israel." And over this side you have what might be called New Ofra, those new red-roofed homes, with another couple of hundred homes of them across there.

And across on the hillside you have one of those settlement outposts. Those are the settlement outposts that have to be disbanded in the first phase of the road map.

That's what the settlers are up against. They feel that they need to get -- they've lost the support of the prime minister, their mentor, who was always behind them, Ariel Sharon. They fear now he's turned against them, he may be asking to disband those settlement outposts, and may be asking to curb the activity in the big settlements. The settlers fear that this peace initiative could be for real -- Carol.

COSTELLO: All right, Jerrold Kessel, John Vause, 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 June 4, 2003 - 06:30   ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
CAROL COSTELLO, CNN ANCHOR: Palestinians and Israelis, though, are equally skeptical of the negotiations under way right now in Jordan, and we are covering the reaction from both sides.
CNN's Jerrold Kessel is standing by live at a Jewish settlement near the West Bank town of Ramallah. John Vause is with us live from a Palestinian neighborhood in Arab East Jerusalem.

John -- we start with you. Good morning.

JOHN VAUSE, CNN CORRESPONDENT: And good morning to you, Carol.

Well, the Palestinians aren't hopeful that this road map will end in any lasting peace, and it seems that that's one of the few things that they agree with the Israelis on. But they say that they have to give it a go, they have to see where this road map will take them.

But what they're saying immediately, if you want to show the Palestinians some results, well, let's ease up those travel restrictions, let's tear down things like this wall just over here. This is a wall that was built by the Israelis in September of last year.

If we just pan off over here, we see a gentleman, who has been actually up on this fence. He's been there for like the last 15 minutes. And just to the left of him, you can see the Israeli soldiers. Well, that's a Palestinian man. He's trying to go into East Jerusalem. The Israelis are there stopping him. He doesn't have the correct paperwork. And, in fact, if he wanted to go into East Jerusalem, well, he'd have to drive along this road over here, and it would take him about 30-40 minutes, and only then if he had the valid work permits could he, in fact, get into Jerusalem.

There are about 3.5 million Palestinians. Only about 100,000 or so have the valid work permits to travel into Israel. The rest are being confined to villages like this, unable to see their family and friends and other Palestinian towns. So, what these people are saying: if you want this road map to work, ease those travel restrictions.

Now, for more on this story, let's head over to Jerrold Kessel -- Jerrold.

JERROLD KESSEL, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Thanks, John.

We're here right in the heart of the West Bank, and one of the big issues, of course, that needs to be addressed in the first phase of the road map is the question of the Jewish settlements; that Israel is obliged under the terms of the peace initiative to do away, to disband those 100 odd or so small, built-up outposts, some of them illegal, some of them quasi-legal outposts, and to freeze settlement activity in the other big settlements.

And I think if we look behind us here at one single settlement in the expansion of Israeli settlement activity over the last three decades or so, we'll get a picture of what exactly the peacemakers are up against if they try to have to tackle this question of the settlements. If we zoom our camera in beyond us here on those red roofs in the distance, that's the settlement of Ofra. That's one of the biggest settlements in the West Bank that was set up right here in the heart of the area, in the heart of Palestinian, a densely- populated Palestinian area, set up about 30 years ago.

And the people have since then began expanding their settlement. And what's happened -- this is also, of course, in the heart of what the Israelis and the settlers call the "heart of the biblical land of Israel." And over this side you have what might be called New Ofra, those new red-roofed homes, with another couple of hundred homes of them across there.

And across on the hillside you have one of those settlement outposts. Those are the settlement outposts that have to be disbanded in the first phase of the road map.

That's what the settlers are up against. They feel that they need to get -- they've lost the support of the prime minister, their mentor, who was always behind them, Ariel Sharon. They fear now he's turned against them, he may be asking to disband those settlement outposts, and may be asking to curb the activity in the big settlements. The settlers fear that this peace initiative could be for real -- Carol.

COSTELLO: All right, Jerrold Kessel, John Vause, 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.