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Is Road Map To Peace in the Middle East Being Accepted?

Aired April 30, 2003 - 15:03   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.


JUDY WOODRUFF, CNN ANCHOR: With us now, CNN's Andrea Koppel at the State Department and CNN's Kelly Wallace in Jerusalem.
Kelly, let me begin with you. You are there in the region. What are people saying on the both sides of prospects that finally we're going to see some real movement here?

KELLY WALLACE, CNN CORRESPONDENT: I think it's fair to say there's some caution here. Both sides have been disappointed before, so there's not tremendous optimism. The Palestinians for their part, though, think the new leadership, the newly sworn in Palestinian prime minister, combined with this road map, gives both sides an opportunity. They are calling for this road map to be implemented immediately, without any changes made. But already the sides are not seeing eye to eye, because the Israelis say they have some concerns. They want at least a dozen changes made. And they are also saying that they don't believe any steps to be taken until there is an end to the radical Palestinian attacks against Israelis just like the suicide bombing we saw earlier this morning outside a Tel Aviv cafe.

WOODRUFF: Andrea, how is the administration dealing with the fact that already you've got this disagreement between the Israelis and the Palestinians over how to implement it and what the plan says.

ANDREA KOPPEL, CNN STATE DEPARTMENT CORRESPONDENT: Well, Judy, President Bush is calling this an opportunity for both sides. At the same time, I don't think anyone in the Bush administration saw this either as a blueprint that was written in stone. They just want to get it out there and hopefully be able to move both sides to the negotiating table as quickly as possible.

But as Kelly said, you can see just in the very first few hours of this road map having been published or at least being out there, you had the new Palestinian prime minister sworn in, an important step on the road to political reform that the U.S. and the Israelis have been calling for, and within a couple of hours, there was this suicide attack in Tel Aviv. So nobody used this as being views this as being easy or quick, but it is an important movement in the right direction and now that President Bush believes that the war in Iraq is behind him, that he can now focus on the peace process -- Judy.

WOODRUFF: KELLY: You mentioned the Israelis are saying they want the suicide bombings to stop. They want all violence to stop.

What are the Palestinians saying about that? WALLACE: Well, they say they need time. First and foremost, they say the newly installed prime minister needs some time to work with his security team, but many people privately, Judy, are saying this is going to be a huge challenge for Mahmoud Abbas. Two of the radical Palestinian groups claiming responsibility for this early morning suicide bombing appear to have been sending a message to the new prime minister saying they reject his call for an end to terrorism, and for a negotiated settlement to the conflict with the Israelis.

In fact, one of the groups claiming responsibility, the militant group Hamas, its leader in the Gaza Strip is already saying Hamas rejects the road map and will not disarm. And so whether or not Mahmoud Abbas can reign in the radical Palestinian groups, almost everyone believes this is the main challenge, and really the main indicator about whether the two sides can actually move forward on the paths to peace.

WOODRUFF: Andrea, this trip of Secretary of State Colin Powell, again, what are they realistically thinking they're going to accomplish on this journey?

KOPPEL: It's important to point out that Secretary Powell is deliberately not going to Israel or to the Palestinian territories when he leaves later this evening. He's expected to travel there sometime at the end of next week. And the reason being the U.S. does not want Mahmoud Abbas to appear to be a U.S. puppet. They want to give him time to get his sea legs. The important point of this trip, Secretary Powell, leaving for Europe and the Middle East is really the Syria, Lebanon stops.

You can imagine Damascus relieved to know that Secretary Powell going to be there to relieve some of the implications that they would be next on a U.S. military hit list. But by the same token, they should really brace themselves for a very strong message from the secretary of state who will be telling them not only that their support for terrorist organizations, the U.S. calls Hezbollah a terrorist organization, must end immediately. If, in fact, they are harboring any Iraqi exile leaders or any Iraqi weapons of mass destruction, they better cough them up quickly -- Judy.

WOODRUFF: All right, Andrea Koppel reporting from the State Department and Kelly Wallace reporting for us from Jerusalem. Thank you both. It's good to see you both. We appreciate it very much.

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 April 30, 2003 - 15:03   ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
JUDY WOODRUFF, CNN ANCHOR: With us now, CNN's Andrea Koppel at the State Department and CNN's Kelly Wallace in Jerusalem.
Kelly, let me begin with you. You are there in the region. What are people saying on the both sides of prospects that finally we're going to see some real movement here?

KELLY WALLACE, CNN CORRESPONDENT: I think it's fair to say there's some caution here. Both sides have been disappointed before, so there's not tremendous optimism. The Palestinians for their part, though, think the new leadership, the newly sworn in Palestinian prime minister, combined with this road map, gives both sides an opportunity. They are calling for this road map to be implemented immediately, without any changes made. But already the sides are not seeing eye to eye, because the Israelis say they have some concerns. They want at least a dozen changes made. And they are also saying that they don't believe any steps to be taken until there is an end to the radical Palestinian attacks against Israelis just like the suicide bombing we saw earlier this morning outside a Tel Aviv cafe.

WOODRUFF: Andrea, how is the administration dealing with the fact that already you've got this disagreement between the Israelis and the Palestinians over how to implement it and what the plan says.

ANDREA KOPPEL, CNN STATE DEPARTMENT CORRESPONDENT: Well, Judy, President Bush is calling this an opportunity for both sides. At the same time, I don't think anyone in the Bush administration saw this either as a blueprint that was written in stone. They just want to get it out there and hopefully be able to move both sides to the negotiating table as quickly as possible.

But as Kelly said, you can see just in the very first few hours of this road map having been published or at least being out there, you had the new Palestinian prime minister sworn in, an important step on the road to political reform that the U.S. and the Israelis have been calling for, and within a couple of hours, there was this suicide attack in Tel Aviv. So nobody used this as being views this as being easy or quick, but it is an important movement in the right direction and now that President Bush believes that the war in Iraq is behind him, that he can now focus on the peace process -- Judy.

WOODRUFF: KELLY: You mentioned the Israelis are saying they want the suicide bombings to stop. They want all violence to stop.

What are the Palestinians saying about that? WALLACE: Well, they say they need time. First and foremost, they say the newly installed prime minister needs some time to work with his security team, but many people privately, Judy, are saying this is going to be a huge challenge for Mahmoud Abbas. Two of the radical Palestinian groups claiming responsibility for this early morning suicide bombing appear to have been sending a message to the new prime minister saying they reject his call for an end to terrorism, and for a negotiated settlement to the conflict with the Israelis.

In fact, one of the groups claiming responsibility, the militant group Hamas, its leader in the Gaza Strip is already saying Hamas rejects the road map and will not disarm. And so whether or not Mahmoud Abbas can reign in the radical Palestinian groups, almost everyone believes this is the main challenge, and really the main indicator about whether the two sides can actually move forward on the paths to peace.

WOODRUFF: Andrea, this trip of Secretary of State Colin Powell, again, what are they realistically thinking they're going to accomplish on this journey?

KOPPEL: It's important to point out that Secretary Powell is deliberately not going to Israel or to the Palestinian territories when he leaves later this evening. He's expected to travel there sometime at the end of next week. And the reason being the U.S. does not want Mahmoud Abbas to appear to be a U.S. puppet. They want to give him time to get his sea legs. The important point of this trip, Secretary Powell, leaving for Europe and the Middle East is really the Syria, Lebanon stops.

You can imagine Damascus relieved to know that Secretary Powell going to be there to relieve some of the implications that they would be next on a U.S. military hit list. But by the same token, they should really brace themselves for a very strong message from the secretary of state who will be telling them not only that their support for terrorist organizations, the U.S. calls Hezbollah a terrorist organization, must end immediately. If, in fact, they are harboring any Iraqi exile leaders or any Iraqi weapons of mass destruction, they better cough them up quickly -- Judy.

WOODRUFF: All right, Andrea Koppel reporting from the State Department and Kelly Wallace reporting for us from Jerusalem. Thank you both. It's good to see you both. We appreciate it very much.

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