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CNN Live At Daybreak
Rating Road Map, Tale of Two States
Aired June 05, 2003 - 06:08 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: President Bush is coming home pleased with the progress in his Middle East peace effort. After meeting with Israeli and Palestinian prime ministers in Jordan, Mr. Bush says he believes there is an opening to achieve peace, because, in his words, "both sides are tired of death." But the president does admit there is still a lot of work to do.
But the man who the United States wants to ignore in this crisis is speaking out this morning. Palestinian President Yasser Arafat is saying that Mr. Sharon has not offered anything tangible to the Palestinians.
Let's go live to Jerusalem now and John Vause.
Good morning -- John.
JOHN VAUSE, CNN CORRESPONDENT: And good morning again, Carol.
Palestinian President Yasser Arafat made those comments at his compound in Ramallah just a short time ago. He was meeting some representatives from UNESCO, and, as you say, he told that group that nothing tangible has come from the Aqaba meeting. As you know, Yasser Arafat wasn't there.
Part of the process that the United States and Israel are involved in to sideline the Palestinian president, they prefer to deal with the Palestinian prime minister, Mahmoud Abbas, but still Yasser Arafat very much involved in everything that was going on. And the Aqaba summit reports that he was holding lengthy conversations with the Palestinian delegation while they were meeting in Aqaba.
And a sign of the support that Yasser Arafat still has, in the last few hours there was a rather large demonstration in Gaza, about 1,000 or so people on the streets there showing their support for the Palestinian president.
And also here in Jerusalem last night, another large demonstration; this time settlers gathering in Zion Square. Now, they are protesting the road map. They believe this could be the beginning of the end, especially today with Israeli officials planning to meet to talk about the dismantling of as many as 15 illegal settlement outposts. The settlers saying it's the outposts today; it could be the settlements tomorrow.
And an interesting point to note, Israel media is reporting that security around the Israeli prime minister has been beefed up over the last few days. You may recall in 1995, the Israeli prime minister, Yitzhak Rabin, was assassinated by a Jewish extremist.
There are also problems, too, on the ground for the Palestinian prime minister, Mahmoud Abbas. He's calling for those militant groups to de-arm. The only people with weapons in the territories, he says, should be the Palestinian security forces.
But there is a bright spot here. Hamas, for one, is still engaged in negotiations for a cease-fire.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
ISMAIL ABU SHANAB, HAMAS SPOKESMAN: We (UNINTELLIGIBLE) in that we are ready to stop martyrdom operations inside Israel in the term of avoiding Palestinian citizens and to avoid Palestinian -- Israeli citizens and save Israeli citizens and Palestinian citizens from war damages.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
VAUSE: Now, to get that cease-fire, the Palestinians say the Israelis must withdraw from parts of the West Bank and Gaza, an end to what they call assassinations or targeted killings of militants. And also, they want prisoners to be released as well.
Israel making demands and they say a cease-fire is just the start.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
BENJAMIN NETANYAHU, FORMER ISRAELI PRIME MINISTER: The way you'll know if it's serious is you'll see first, do they teach their children, in fact, to live with Israel instead of destroying Israel? Do they dismantle the terrorist infrastructure? Do they actually go out and arrest terrorists, and if necessary fight them? Do we see them abandon the cause to destroy Israel and the so-called "right of return," the flooding of Israel with millions of Palestinians? If they do all of this, then I think we'll have a real indication that something has happened.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
VAUSE: And, Carol, as you can see, there's still such a long, long way to go.
COSTELLO: A very long road map to peace. John Vause reporting live from Jerusalem 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 5, 2003 - 06:08 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
CAROL COSTELLO, CNN ANCHOR: President Bush is coming home pleased with the progress in his Middle East peace effort. After meeting with Israeli and Palestinian prime ministers in Jordan, Mr. Bush says he believes there is an opening to achieve peace, because, in his words, "both sides are tired of death." But the president does admit there is still a lot of work to do.
But the man who the United States wants to ignore in this crisis is speaking out this morning. Palestinian President Yasser Arafat is saying that Mr. Sharon has not offered anything tangible to the Palestinians.
Let's go live to Jerusalem now and John Vause.
Good morning -- John.
JOHN VAUSE, CNN CORRESPONDENT: And good morning again, Carol.
Palestinian President Yasser Arafat made those comments at his compound in Ramallah just a short time ago. He was meeting some representatives from UNESCO, and, as you say, he told that group that nothing tangible has come from the Aqaba meeting. As you know, Yasser Arafat wasn't there.
Part of the process that the United States and Israel are involved in to sideline the Palestinian president, they prefer to deal with the Palestinian prime minister, Mahmoud Abbas, but still Yasser Arafat very much involved in everything that was going on. And the Aqaba summit reports that he was holding lengthy conversations with the Palestinian delegation while they were meeting in Aqaba.
And a sign of the support that Yasser Arafat still has, in the last few hours there was a rather large demonstration in Gaza, about 1,000 or so people on the streets there showing their support for the Palestinian president.
And also here in Jerusalem last night, another large demonstration; this time settlers gathering in Zion Square. Now, they are protesting the road map. They believe this could be the beginning of the end, especially today with Israeli officials planning to meet to talk about the dismantling of as many as 15 illegal settlement outposts. The settlers saying it's the outposts today; it could be the settlements tomorrow.
And an interesting point to note, Israel media is reporting that security around the Israeli prime minister has been beefed up over the last few days. You may recall in 1995, the Israeli prime minister, Yitzhak Rabin, was assassinated by a Jewish extremist.
There are also problems, too, on the ground for the Palestinian prime minister, Mahmoud Abbas. He's calling for those militant groups to de-arm. The only people with weapons in the territories, he says, should be the Palestinian security forces.
But there is a bright spot here. Hamas, for one, is still engaged in negotiations for a cease-fire.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
ISMAIL ABU SHANAB, HAMAS SPOKESMAN: We (UNINTELLIGIBLE) in that we are ready to stop martyrdom operations inside Israel in the term of avoiding Palestinian citizens and to avoid Palestinian -- Israeli citizens and save Israeli citizens and Palestinian citizens from war damages.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
VAUSE: Now, to get that cease-fire, the Palestinians say the Israelis must withdraw from parts of the West Bank and Gaza, an end to what they call assassinations or targeted killings of militants. And also, they want prisoners to be released as well.
Israel making demands and they say a cease-fire is just the start.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
BENJAMIN NETANYAHU, FORMER ISRAELI PRIME MINISTER: The way you'll know if it's serious is you'll see first, do they teach their children, in fact, to live with Israel instead of destroying Israel? Do they dismantle the terrorist infrastructure? Do they actually go out and arrest terrorists, and if necessary fight them? Do we see them abandon the cause to destroy Israel and the so-called "right of return," the flooding of Israel with millions of Palestinians? If they do all of this, then I think we'll have a real indication that something has happened.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
VAUSE: And, Carol, as you can see, there's still such a long, long way to go.
COSTELLO: A very long road map to peace. John Vause reporting live from Jerusalem 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.
