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Palestinian Gunman Killed by Israeli Troops
Aired July 01, 2003 - 10:05 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.
DARYN KAGAN, CNN ANCHOR: Today Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon and Mahmoud Abbas will try to breathe new life into the beleaguered process. The latest assault on the cease fire, more violence in the West Bank.
Let's go to Jerusalem now and our Jerrold Kessel -- Jerrold.
JERROLD KESSEL, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Hello, Daryn.
Good afternoon from outside the Israeli prime minister's office, where the two prime ministers will be meeting in just about half an hour from now. This is the third time they've met. But it's the first time we will get a public glimpse of the interaction between the two prime ministers. Before you could barely see the cars going in. That's all we were allowed to take pictures of, much less hear statements from the two men.
This time very different. A public statement from both prime ministers is expected in just about half an hour from now, before they go into their talks. Now clearly, this is a meeting with consolidating the gains already made in the advances on the peace road. I like what happened down in Gaza yesterday, where the Palestinians took over control from Israeli security forces who withdrew from that area. That's being seen as a very positive gain, and it's been going very smoothly.
And also to find ways to work against the militants who are still not on board with the cease-fire and have been working against it with that other incident, the second in successive days, by possibly a renegade group, which today it was a young Palestinian who tried to attack Israeli soldiers at a checkpoint, that he was shot dead. Yesterday, it was a Bulgarian worker working for an Israeli construction company, shot and killed by Palestinian militants.
So that will be one thing on the table. How to stop the militants acting in a firm way. But beyond that, we will be anxious to see what we can discern from the meeting itself of how much there will be a true meeting of the minds or whether they are still at loggerheads.
The summing of that we heard today when Prime Minister Mahmoud Abbas addressed the Palestinian Legislative Council, and said that he was anxious to see things move very speedily ahead.
For all of the Palestinian cities in the West Bank, like Bethlehem is expected to get back in Palestinian control tomorrow, for this to happen within a month or so. That's something the Israelis are not quite anxious to do. They say they want to test the waters to see if there will be control of the violence before they give over more territory.
We didn't hear Ariel Sharon today speaking, but we did hear his security chief, and he made a very interesting remark in a lecture down in Tel Aviv, Daryn, when he said the hard task for the Palestinians, the true test will be in a few weeks from now, when they have to take away the guns, dismantle Hamas and the other radical organizations.
So possibly the Israelis will be pushing for that. The Palestinians will be pushing for quick handover of territory in the rest of the West Bank.
Whether there will be a meeting of the minds working together, whether they'll be at loggerheads, perhaps you'll get a glimpse of that out of this meeting today. But an important meeting, nonetheless, even on of the public relations level of showing the two sides now working together and showing it publicly -- Daryn.
KAGAN: And as you point out, still a lot of distrust on both sides. Jerrold, thank you for that. And as Jerrold was pointing out, about a half hour from now, the prime ministers Sharon and Abbas will deliver this joint statement before they go into their meeting.
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 July 1, 2003 - 10:05 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
DARYN KAGAN, CNN ANCHOR: Today Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon and Mahmoud Abbas will try to breathe new life into the beleaguered process. The latest assault on the cease fire, more violence in the West Bank.
Let's go to Jerusalem now and our Jerrold Kessel -- Jerrold.
JERROLD KESSEL, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Hello, Daryn.
Good afternoon from outside the Israeli prime minister's office, where the two prime ministers will be meeting in just about half an hour from now. This is the third time they've met. But it's the first time we will get a public glimpse of the interaction between the two prime ministers. Before you could barely see the cars going in. That's all we were allowed to take pictures of, much less hear statements from the two men.
This time very different. A public statement from both prime ministers is expected in just about half an hour from now, before they go into their talks. Now clearly, this is a meeting with consolidating the gains already made in the advances on the peace road. I like what happened down in Gaza yesterday, where the Palestinians took over control from Israeli security forces who withdrew from that area. That's being seen as a very positive gain, and it's been going very smoothly.
And also to find ways to work against the militants who are still not on board with the cease-fire and have been working against it with that other incident, the second in successive days, by possibly a renegade group, which today it was a young Palestinian who tried to attack Israeli soldiers at a checkpoint, that he was shot dead. Yesterday, it was a Bulgarian worker working for an Israeli construction company, shot and killed by Palestinian militants.
So that will be one thing on the table. How to stop the militants acting in a firm way. But beyond that, we will be anxious to see what we can discern from the meeting itself of how much there will be a true meeting of the minds or whether they are still at loggerheads.
The summing of that we heard today when Prime Minister Mahmoud Abbas addressed the Palestinian Legislative Council, and said that he was anxious to see things move very speedily ahead.
For all of the Palestinian cities in the West Bank, like Bethlehem is expected to get back in Palestinian control tomorrow, for this to happen within a month or so. That's something the Israelis are not quite anxious to do. They say they want to test the waters to see if there will be control of the violence before they give over more territory.
We didn't hear Ariel Sharon today speaking, but we did hear his security chief, and he made a very interesting remark in a lecture down in Tel Aviv, Daryn, when he said the hard task for the Palestinians, the true test will be in a few weeks from now, when they have to take away the guns, dismantle Hamas and the other radical organizations.
So possibly the Israelis will be pushing for that. The Palestinians will be pushing for quick handover of territory in the rest of the West Bank.
Whether there will be a meeting of the minds working together, whether they'll be at loggerheads, perhaps you'll get a glimpse of that out of this meeting today. But an important meeting, nonetheless, even on of the public relations level of showing the two sides now working together and showing it publicly -- Daryn.
KAGAN: And as you point out, still a lot of distrust on both sides. Jerrold, thank you for that. And as Jerrold was pointing out, about a half hour from now, the prime ministers Sharon and Abbas will deliver this joint statement before they go into their meeting.
TO ORDER A VIDEO OF THIS TRANSCRIPT, PLEASE CALL 800-CNN-NEWS OR USE OUR SECURE ONLINE ORDER FORM LOCATED AT www.fdch.com
