Return to Transcripts main page
CNN Live At Daybreak
Palestinian Lawmaker Accepts Offer in Principle to Replace Mahmoud Abbas
Aired September 08, 2003 - 05:10 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.
FREDRICKA WHITFIELD, CNN ANCHOR: Now for the latest from the Middle East. CNN has learned that Palestinian lawmaker Ahmed Qureia has accepted an offer in principle to replace Mahmoud Abbas as prime minister. But will the new leader have any chance at moving the peace process forward?
CNN's Jerrold Kessel joins us live from Jerusalem with more on that -- good morning to you, Jerrold.
JERROLD KESSEL, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Good morning, Fredericka.
Well, I must stress that it's very much in principle, that acceptance by Ahmed Qureia, the Abu Ala, as he's also known, the speaker of the Palestinian legislative council, effectively, the Palestinian parliament, in accepting that nomination, in responding to that nomination by the Palestinian leadership, by Yasser Arafat, that he take over from the resigned Mahmoud Abbas as the Palestinian prime minister.
And when we caught up with him just a short while ago at his office in Abu Dis, in the village of Abu Dis, just outside Jerusalem, and I asked him whether he was already accepting good wishes for accepting the new post. He said not yet.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
AHMED QUREIA, PRIME MINISTER-DESIGNATE: I've been nominated but I've not accepted yet because before that I want to see what kind of support I will receive to change the situation on the ground for the Palestinian people. That's very important. Without it, I am not going to accept for a new failure.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
KESSEL: Not accepting a failure was his words, and he wants to get that support, he said, from the United States, from the Europeans, from the Israelis, from the Palestinian Authority. But principally, Fredricka, as we were there trying to get that short interview with Abu Ala, he met with the U.S. consul general, Jeff Feltman, the consul general in East Jerusalem, presumably to try to elicit some of those assurances from the United States.
Because the key thing that Mr. Qureia told us that he wanted to see a change on was Israel's and the United States' attitude to Yasser Arafat. Without them accepting Yasser Arafat's position as the president of the Palestinian Authority, he said, he could not go forward, he could not succeed, there could be no progress down the peace road.
Well, the Israelis are saying precisely the opposite, as long as Yasser Arafat is in the picture, there can be no progress down the peace road. That, we understand, is what the Israeli foreign minister told Secretary of State Colin Powell last night in the wake of that resignation of Mahmoud Abbas and the nomination of Ahmed Qureia.
So, still some very difficult diplomatic days ahead to try to resolve this Palestinian leadership question in a way that perhaps can open the way for new progress down the peace road.
At the moment, the peace road seems still stymied -- Fredricka.
WHITFIELD: All right, Jerrold, thank you very much.
It seems as though any time that Yasser Arafat is the one to pick the next prime minister, it will be, indeed, an uphill battle.
TO ORDER A VIDEO OF THIS TRANSCRIPT, PLEASE CALL 800-CNN-NEWS OR USE OUR SECURE ONLINE ORDER FORM LOCATED AT www.fdch.com
Mahmoud Abbas>
Aired September 8, 2003 - 05:10 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
FREDRICKA WHITFIELD, CNN ANCHOR: Now for the latest from the Middle East. CNN has learned that Palestinian lawmaker Ahmed Qureia has accepted an offer in principle to replace Mahmoud Abbas as prime minister. But will the new leader have any chance at moving the peace process forward?
CNN's Jerrold Kessel joins us live from Jerusalem with more on that -- good morning to you, Jerrold.
JERROLD KESSEL, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Good morning, Fredericka.
Well, I must stress that it's very much in principle, that acceptance by Ahmed Qureia, the Abu Ala, as he's also known, the speaker of the Palestinian legislative council, effectively, the Palestinian parliament, in accepting that nomination, in responding to that nomination by the Palestinian leadership, by Yasser Arafat, that he take over from the resigned Mahmoud Abbas as the Palestinian prime minister.
And when we caught up with him just a short while ago at his office in Abu Dis, in the village of Abu Dis, just outside Jerusalem, and I asked him whether he was already accepting good wishes for accepting the new post. He said not yet.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
AHMED QUREIA, PRIME MINISTER-DESIGNATE: I've been nominated but I've not accepted yet because before that I want to see what kind of support I will receive to change the situation on the ground for the Palestinian people. That's very important. Without it, I am not going to accept for a new failure.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
KESSEL: Not accepting a failure was his words, and he wants to get that support, he said, from the United States, from the Europeans, from the Israelis, from the Palestinian Authority. But principally, Fredricka, as we were there trying to get that short interview with Abu Ala, he met with the U.S. consul general, Jeff Feltman, the consul general in East Jerusalem, presumably to try to elicit some of those assurances from the United States.
Because the key thing that Mr. Qureia told us that he wanted to see a change on was Israel's and the United States' attitude to Yasser Arafat. Without them accepting Yasser Arafat's position as the president of the Palestinian Authority, he said, he could not go forward, he could not succeed, there could be no progress down the peace road.
Well, the Israelis are saying precisely the opposite, as long as Yasser Arafat is in the picture, there can be no progress down the peace road. That, we understand, is what the Israeli foreign minister told Secretary of State Colin Powell last night in the wake of that resignation of Mahmoud Abbas and the nomination of Ahmed Qureia.
So, still some very difficult diplomatic days ahead to try to resolve this Palestinian leadership question in a way that perhaps can open the way for new progress down the peace road.
At the moment, the peace road seems still stymied -- Fredricka.
WHITFIELD: All right, Jerrold, thank you very much.
It seems as though any time that Yasser Arafat is the one to pick the next prime minister, it will be, indeed, an uphill battle.
TO ORDER A VIDEO OF THIS TRANSCRIPT, PLEASE CALL 800-CNN-NEWS OR USE OUR SECURE ONLINE ORDER FORM LOCATED AT www.fdch.com
Mahmoud Abbas>
