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CNN Live Today
Summit at Aqaba: Palestinian Perspective
Aired June 04, 2003 - 10:00 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: We're going to begin this hour in Aqaba, Jordan, the resort city on the so-called road map to Middle Eastern peace. President Bush has met with the two prime ministers who can chart that course: Israel's Ariel Sharon and his Palestinian counterpart, Mahmoud Abbas.
And they went and had a joint appearance moments ago. You see here a bridge which signified the crossing of the troubled waters between these peoples there in that region.
Our senior White House correspondent John King is traveling with the president, and he'll be joining us in just a moment.
Now for much of today, Aqaba was the common ground in this territorial tug-of-war. But is there common ground in the hopes of the various sides of this long conflict?
Well, let's begin right now our look at all of this in Jerusalem and the Palestinian point-of-view there. What kind of hope do they have for this summit?
Let's check in now. Our John Vause is checking in there. He's got a live report for us right now -- John.
JOHN VAUSE, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Hello, Leon.
Well, we're in the West Bank town of Abudis (ph). Now, just behind me is, in fact, East Jerusalem. And at Aqaba, we heard the Palestinian prime minister talking about the need for Palestinians to live in dignity, for their ability to travel freely, to see family, to go to school, to go to their jobs. Well, he was talking about security fences just like this one. The Israelis built it in September last year. They say they need this to keep the terrorists and the suicide bombers away from the Israelis, out of Israel proper.
But this is one of the ongoing issues for the Palestinians. And when Mahmoud Abbas talked about school children just going to school, well, what we've seen here is children squeezing through the gap in the fence. And they do it in the morning, and then they do it at night. That's one of the issues.
Now, if Palestinians were looking for a statement from Ariel Sharon, hoping that this fence may soon be coming down, well, I think they're a bit disappointed, because we heard from the Israeli prime minister saying that security remains the No. 1 priority for the Israelis. And there will be no action on the ground, at least when it comes to security fences like this one, until there is that cease-fire in place, until they've seen the crack down on those Palestinian militant organizations.
The reaction from the people here in Abudis (ph) was quite interesting. We went to a few of the shops that you can see here along the side the streets. They had the television on, they're watching Al-Jazeera, but mostly the sound was turned down. And we asked them why? They said, well, we've heard it all before, we've heard the words, we've heard the promises. What they really want, they want action on the ground and things like bringing this fence down, they say, so that they can see their families, which some people here say they haven't seen families in towns like Jenin or Nablus or Hebron, they haven't seen them for years -- Leon.
HARRIS: Thank you, John -- John Vause reporting live for us.
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 - 10:00 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
LEON HARRIS, CNN ANCHOR: We're going to begin this hour in Aqaba, Jordan, the resort city on the so-called road map to Middle Eastern peace. President Bush has met with the two prime ministers who can chart that course: Israel's Ariel Sharon and his Palestinian counterpart, Mahmoud Abbas.
And they went and had a joint appearance moments ago. You see here a bridge which signified the crossing of the troubled waters between these peoples there in that region.
Our senior White House correspondent John King is traveling with the president, and he'll be joining us in just a moment.
Now for much of today, Aqaba was the common ground in this territorial tug-of-war. But is there common ground in the hopes of the various sides of this long conflict?
Well, let's begin right now our look at all of this in Jerusalem and the Palestinian point-of-view there. What kind of hope do they have for this summit?
Let's check in now. Our John Vause is checking in there. He's got a live report for us right now -- John.
JOHN VAUSE, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Hello, Leon.
Well, we're in the West Bank town of Abudis (ph). Now, just behind me is, in fact, East Jerusalem. And at Aqaba, we heard the Palestinian prime minister talking about the need for Palestinians to live in dignity, for their ability to travel freely, to see family, to go to school, to go to their jobs. Well, he was talking about security fences just like this one. The Israelis built it in September last year. They say they need this to keep the terrorists and the suicide bombers away from the Israelis, out of Israel proper.
But this is one of the ongoing issues for the Palestinians. And when Mahmoud Abbas talked about school children just going to school, well, what we've seen here is children squeezing through the gap in the fence. And they do it in the morning, and then they do it at night. That's one of the issues.
Now, if Palestinians were looking for a statement from Ariel Sharon, hoping that this fence may soon be coming down, well, I think they're a bit disappointed, because we heard from the Israeli prime minister saying that security remains the No. 1 priority for the Israelis. And there will be no action on the ground, at least when it comes to security fences like this one, until there is that cease-fire in place, until they've seen the crack down on those Palestinian militant organizations.
The reaction from the people here in Abudis (ph) was quite interesting. We went to a few of the shops that you can see here along the side the streets. They had the television on, they're watching Al-Jazeera, but mostly the sound was turned down. And we asked them why? They said, well, we've heard it all before, we've heard the words, we've heard the promises. What they really want, they want action on the ground and things like bringing this fence down, they say, so that they can see their families, which some people here say they haven't seen families in towns like Jenin or Nablus or Hebron, they haven't seen them for years -- Leon.
HARRIS: Thank you, John -- John Vause reporting live for us.
TO ORDER A VIDEO OF THIS TRANSCRIPT, PLEASE CALL 800-CNN-NEWS OR USE OUR SECURE ONLINE ORDER FORM LOCATED AT www.fdch.com.
