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Crisis in the Middle East: Colin Powell in Jerusalem

Aired June 20, 2003 - 05:05   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: And at this minute, we're waiting for a news conference in Jerusalem with Secretary of State Colin Powell and Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon. Of course, as I said, we'll bring that to you live as soon as it begins. Powell and the Israeli leader have been meeting now for about an hour.
But let's head live to Jerusalem right now and check in with our bureau chief there, Mike Hanna.

Good morning -- Mike.

MIKE HANNA, CNN JERUSALEM BUREAU CHIEF: Hello there, Carol.

Well the U.S. Secretary of State has been playing down expectations about what to expect from his mission, saying that he's in the region, he's attending an economic conference in neighboring Jordan and he wants to see the process that has been made, or progress, in terms of implementing that U.S.-backed roadmap.

He's been meeting Ariel Sharon for the past hour and earlier on in the day held meetings with other Israeli leaders. To Mr. Sharon, we understand, he's been finding out what Israel has been doing in terms of meeting its obligations in the roadmap. In recent days there have been the dismantling of outposts -- settlement outposts, which is one of Israel's obligations. We understand, too, that Colin Powell is bringing up with Ariel Sharon the question of Israeli assassination of a particular individual, Palestinian militant leaders, arguing that this is not helpful to the process.

Late on in the day, Mr. Powell will be meeting with the Palestinian Prime Minister Mahmoud Abbas. There he'll be finding out what -- to what extent the Palestinians have been attempting to meet their commitments, in particular, the getting a cease-fire or truce in place with militant groups. And we understand Mr. Powell is going to making clear to the Palestinians that a cease-fire is not an end in itself. What he wants to see is a disarmament of those militant groups.

So much diplomacy going on. The U.S. Secretary of State here to find out exactly what has been done, what still needs to be done and how the U.S. can help in that process -- Carol.

COSTELLO: Well it is interesting you say that he's playing down his efforts there this morning.

HANNA: Yes, very much so. I think that what he's been trying to do is reduce any heightened expectations that come from his trip here. He's made quite clear that this is not a specially organized trip, that this is an adjunct to his primary mission in the area, which is attending a world economic forum conference in neighboring Jordan.

What he does not want to do is raise expectations, either from the outside world or from the parties, Israeli or Palestinian, that his visit produces some magic ingredients that gets things working where they weren't before. The whole key to this is that the parties themselves have got to meet their obligations. The U.S. is here to monitor the implementation of those obligations and to adjudicate, perhaps, where each side is not doing what the other side feels it should do.

So this is the key to Powell's diplomacy at the moment and indeed the U.S. diplomacy, generally, let the sides get on with it, let the parties do it and where there are stumbling blocks, then there's a team on the ground to try and sort out the argument.

COSTELLO: Understand. Mike Hanna live from Jerusalem.

And of course we'll go back live there when Secretary of State Colin Powell comes out with Ariel Sharon for a mini press conference, if you will.

We have an explanation of the "roadmap to peace" on our Web site, along with a map of occupied lands in the region. It's all there, just click on to CNN.com. AOL keyword, CNN.

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 20, 2003 - 05:05   ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
CAROL COSTELLO, CNN ANCHOR: And at this minute, we're waiting for a news conference in Jerusalem with Secretary of State Colin Powell and Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon. Of course, as I said, we'll bring that to you live as soon as it begins. Powell and the Israeli leader have been meeting now for about an hour.
But let's head live to Jerusalem right now and check in with our bureau chief there, Mike Hanna.

Good morning -- Mike.

MIKE HANNA, CNN JERUSALEM BUREAU CHIEF: Hello there, Carol.

Well the U.S. Secretary of State has been playing down expectations about what to expect from his mission, saying that he's in the region, he's attending an economic conference in neighboring Jordan and he wants to see the process that has been made, or progress, in terms of implementing that U.S.-backed roadmap.

He's been meeting Ariel Sharon for the past hour and earlier on in the day held meetings with other Israeli leaders. To Mr. Sharon, we understand, he's been finding out what Israel has been doing in terms of meeting its obligations in the roadmap. In recent days there have been the dismantling of outposts -- settlement outposts, which is one of Israel's obligations. We understand, too, that Colin Powell is bringing up with Ariel Sharon the question of Israeli assassination of a particular individual, Palestinian militant leaders, arguing that this is not helpful to the process.

Late on in the day, Mr. Powell will be meeting with the Palestinian Prime Minister Mahmoud Abbas. There he'll be finding out what -- to what extent the Palestinians have been attempting to meet their commitments, in particular, the getting a cease-fire or truce in place with militant groups. And we understand Mr. Powell is going to making clear to the Palestinians that a cease-fire is not an end in itself. What he wants to see is a disarmament of those militant groups.

So much diplomacy going on. The U.S. Secretary of State here to find out exactly what has been done, what still needs to be done and how the U.S. can help in that process -- Carol.

COSTELLO: Well it is interesting you say that he's playing down his efforts there this morning.

HANNA: Yes, very much so. I think that what he's been trying to do is reduce any heightened expectations that come from his trip here. He's made quite clear that this is not a specially organized trip, that this is an adjunct to his primary mission in the area, which is attending a world economic forum conference in neighboring Jordan.

What he does not want to do is raise expectations, either from the outside world or from the parties, Israeli or Palestinian, that his visit produces some magic ingredients that gets things working where they weren't before. The whole key to this is that the parties themselves have got to meet their obligations. The U.S. is here to monitor the implementation of those obligations and to adjudicate, perhaps, where each side is not doing what the other side feels it should do.

So this is the key to Powell's diplomacy at the moment and indeed the U.S. diplomacy, generally, let the sides get on with it, let the parties do it and where there are stumbling blocks, then there's a team on the ground to try and sort out the argument.

COSTELLO: Understand. Mike Hanna live from Jerusalem.

And of course we'll go back live there when Secretary of State Colin Powell comes out with Ariel Sharon for a mini press conference, if you will.

We have an explanation of the "roadmap to peace" on our Web site, along with a map of occupied lands in the region. It's all there, just click on to CNN.com. AOL keyword, CNN.

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