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Road Map to Peace in Middle East Takes Center Stage at White House
Aired July 29, 2003 - 05:33 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: The road map to peace in the Middle East takes center stage at the White House again today. Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon will be visiting with President Bush.
Let's go live to Jerusalem now and Mike Hanna.
He has more on what this meeting hopes to accomplish -- good morning.
MIKE HANNA, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Good morning to you, Carol.
Well, last week it was the Palestinian prime minister who visited President Bush, now it's the turn of the Israeli prime minister, Ariel Sharon. Abu Mazen, Mahmoud Abbas, had presented to President Bush a long list of Palestinian complaints about Israeli non-compliance with the implementation of the road map. Ariel Sharon is likely to do likewise, presenting Israel's position in terms of why that implementation is not proceeding quite as quickly as all parties would want.
It's Ariel Sharon's eighth visit to the White House. However, it's the first time that he's had face to face talks with President Bush since the implementation of that U.S.-backed road map began.
Both parties, Palestinian and Israeli, clearly looking towards the U.S. to release the logjam, the apparent logjam in the process of implementation and looking for the U.S., and President George W. Bush in particular, to lend his weight to getting this implementation under way -- Carol.
COSTELLO: I know there are many bones of contentions, but one of them is this fence that the Israelis are building. Could they change their minds as a result of these talks?
HANNA: Very much so...
COSTELLO: Go ahead.
HANNA: Well, very much so, Carol. This has been a massive bone of contention. The Palestinians say it's a direct contravention of the road map, this fence, because it presupposes an end to negotiations. The fence or wall, in part, is being built along a border defined by Israel and that goes into Palestinian territory in several areas.
Now, Israel says that this fence is absolutely necessary to protect Israeli lives from terror attacks, saying that because the Palestinians are not clamping down on the activities of militants, that it has to take its own protective measures.
However, the U.S. has indicated in recent days that it is deeply concerned about this fence, taking the Palestinian position that it is, in fact, precluding an end to negotiations, that it is Israel unilaterally declaring a line between the territories.
So certainly this is going to be the major point of conversation between the U.S. president and Ariel Sharon. And Israeli sources saying that there may be a degree of flexibility from Sharon's part on it, in terms of coming up with an idea that the fence can continue to be built but impacting on the lives of Palestinians as little as possible.
But this is going to be a major issue between President Bush and Ariel Sharon in the course of the evening -- Carol.
COSTELLO: And we'll be following the story.
Mike Hanna 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
White House>
Aired July 29, 2003 - 05:33 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
CAROL COSTELLO, CNN ANCHOR: The road map to peace in the Middle East takes center stage at the White House again today. Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon will be visiting with President Bush.
Let's go live to Jerusalem now and Mike Hanna.
He has more on what this meeting hopes to accomplish -- good morning.
MIKE HANNA, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Good morning to you, Carol.
Well, last week it was the Palestinian prime minister who visited President Bush, now it's the turn of the Israeli prime minister, Ariel Sharon. Abu Mazen, Mahmoud Abbas, had presented to President Bush a long list of Palestinian complaints about Israeli non-compliance with the implementation of the road map. Ariel Sharon is likely to do likewise, presenting Israel's position in terms of why that implementation is not proceeding quite as quickly as all parties would want.
It's Ariel Sharon's eighth visit to the White House. However, it's the first time that he's had face to face talks with President Bush since the implementation of that U.S.-backed road map began.
Both parties, Palestinian and Israeli, clearly looking towards the U.S. to release the logjam, the apparent logjam in the process of implementation and looking for the U.S., and President George W. Bush in particular, to lend his weight to getting this implementation under way -- Carol.
COSTELLO: I know there are many bones of contentions, but one of them is this fence that the Israelis are building. Could they change their minds as a result of these talks?
HANNA: Very much so...
COSTELLO: Go ahead.
HANNA: Well, very much so, Carol. This has been a massive bone of contention. The Palestinians say it's a direct contravention of the road map, this fence, because it presupposes an end to negotiations. The fence or wall, in part, is being built along a border defined by Israel and that goes into Palestinian territory in several areas.
Now, Israel says that this fence is absolutely necessary to protect Israeli lives from terror attacks, saying that because the Palestinians are not clamping down on the activities of militants, that it has to take its own protective measures.
However, the U.S. has indicated in recent days that it is deeply concerned about this fence, taking the Palestinian position that it is, in fact, precluding an end to negotiations, that it is Israel unilaterally declaring a line between the territories.
So certainly this is going to be the major point of conversation between the U.S. president and Ariel Sharon. And Israeli sources saying that there may be a degree of flexibility from Sharon's part on it, in terms of coming up with an idea that the fence can continue to be built but impacting on the lives of Palestinians as little as possible.
But this is going to be a major issue between President Bush and Ariel Sharon in the course of the evening -- Carol.
COSTELLO: And we'll be following the story.
Mike Hanna 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
White House>
