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Ariel Sharon to Meet With President Bush at White House
Aired July 28, 2003 - 05:09 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: To the Middle East now. Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon is in Washington. He's meeting with President Bush at the White House tomorrow about that road map to peace. His visit comes on the heels of an Israeli cabinet decision to release more than 500 Palestinian prisoners.
Live to Jerusalem and Jerrold Kessel.
Good morning -- Jerrold.
JERROLD KESSEL, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Good morning, Carol.
This will be the eighth time, in fact, that Ariel Sharon, the Israeli prime minister, will be meeting at the Bush White House with the president, and that's a very significant fact.
But there is something new about this. The fact that up until now, you could say, as warm a relationship as they had, Ariel Sharon and the president was in a sense an only child relationship, a favored child some might say.
And now, we have a different situation, because this meeting that Mr. Sharon has arrived for tomorrow at the White House comes hot on the heels of last Friday's meeting at the White House between the new Palestinian prime minister, Mahmoud Abbas, and President Bush, and that was a warm meeting. And there will be a lot of interest in the Middle East to see if the fact that there's perhaps now a triangular relationship has any effect on the warm relationship between President Bush and Ariel Sharon.
From Mr. Sharon's point of view, clearly he'll be hoping that it will remain more of the same, principally that there will remain that basic strategic understanding that he believes he has with the president, especially on the colonel issue, as it's seen, of the need to and the ways to continue combating terror as the best way of advancing any kind of new peace process between Israelis and Palestinians -- Carol.
COSTELLO: You know, Jerrold, Israel has been taking all of these measures. Are they genuine? Or is Ariel Sharon doing this just to satisfy President Bush?
KESSEL: Well, some cynics might say, well, the timing of this announced prisoner release that will come within the next week and other moves are geared to shoring up Mr. Sharon's image with the president when he meets in the White House, and I guess there is something to do with that. But I think there is also a genuine element about it. It's not only the question of what happened yesterday in the Israeli cabinet, where a decision was taken about prisoner releases, notably about the idea of including Islamic jihad and Hamas members among the Palestinians who will be released, but also the shoving aside of road blocks on the West Bank, a critical element in Palestinian minds of how the lives of ordinary Palestinians have been so affected and what needs to be done to make their plight better.
The Israelis have been undertaking these measures genuinely in the hope of helping Mahmoud Abbas shore up his situation among Palestinians, of giving credibility to the peace process known as the "road map," and of perhaps giving hope that something positive will come out of it.
So, I think there is also a genuine element, as well as the fact that it clearly is also timed to this meeting between Mr. Sharon and President Bush tomorrow at the White House -- Carol.
COSTELLO: Jerrold Kessel 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 July 28, 2003 - 05:09 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
CAROL COSTELLO, CNN ANCHOR: To the Middle East now. Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon is in Washington. He's meeting with President Bush at the White House tomorrow about that road map to peace. His visit comes on the heels of an Israeli cabinet decision to release more than 500 Palestinian prisoners.
Live to Jerusalem and Jerrold Kessel.
Good morning -- Jerrold.
JERROLD KESSEL, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Good morning, Carol.
This will be the eighth time, in fact, that Ariel Sharon, the Israeli prime minister, will be meeting at the Bush White House with the president, and that's a very significant fact.
But there is something new about this. The fact that up until now, you could say, as warm a relationship as they had, Ariel Sharon and the president was in a sense an only child relationship, a favored child some might say.
And now, we have a different situation, because this meeting that Mr. Sharon has arrived for tomorrow at the White House comes hot on the heels of last Friday's meeting at the White House between the new Palestinian prime minister, Mahmoud Abbas, and President Bush, and that was a warm meeting. And there will be a lot of interest in the Middle East to see if the fact that there's perhaps now a triangular relationship has any effect on the warm relationship between President Bush and Ariel Sharon.
From Mr. Sharon's point of view, clearly he'll be hoping that it will remain more of the same, principally that there will remain that basic strategic understanding that he believes he has with the president, especially on the colonel issue, as it's seen, of the need to and the ways to continue combating terror as the best way of advancing any kind of new peace process between Israelis and Palestinians -- Carol.
COSTELLO: You know, Jerrold, Israel has been taking all of these measures. Are they genuine? Or is Ariel Sharon doing this just to satisfy President Bush?
KESSEL: Well, some cynics might say, well, the timing of this announced prisoner release that will come within the next week and other moves are geared to shoring up Mr. Sharon's image with the president when he meets in the White House, and I guess there is something to do with that. But I think there is also a genuine element about it. It's not only the question of what happened yesterday in the Israeli cabinet, where a decision was taken about prisoner releases, notably about the idea of including Islamic jihad and Hamas members among the Palestinians who will be released, but also the shoving aside of road blocks on the West Bank, a critical element in Palestinian minds of how the lives of ordinary Palestinians have been so affected and what needs to be done to make their plight better.
The Israelis have been undertaking these measures genuinely in the hope of helping Mahmoud Abbas shore up his situation among Palestinians, of giving credibility to the peace process known as the "road map," and of perhaps giving hope that something positive will come out of it.
So, I think there is also a genuine element, as well as the fact that it clearly is also timed to this meeting between Mr. Sharon and President Bush tomorrow at the White House -- Carol.
COSTELLO: Jerrold Kessel 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.
