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Israeli, Palestinian Leaders Meet One On One
Aired May 29, 2003 - 15:21 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: In Jerusalem, the Israeli and Palestinian prime ministers have been talking one-on-one before their upcoming summit with president Bush. Ariel Sharon and Mahmoud Abbas were widely (UNINTELLIGIBLE) to strike a positive note in their discussions of the U.S.-backed peace road map. But going into the talks, the two sides remained at odds over key elements of the blueprint for ending Middle East violence and moving toward a Palestinian state.
When President Bush travels to the Middle East next week, he will bring with him some baggage. Political pressures from both supporters and opponents of the road map to peace. Here now, our senior political analyst, Bill Schneider.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
GEORGE W. BUSH, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: I'm committed to working toward peace in the Middle East.
WILLIAM SCHNEIDER, CNN SR. POLITICAL ANALYST (voice-over): The issue is, how committed? The president is under diplomatic pressure to push the road map.
TONY BLAIR, BRITISH PRIME MINISTER: A few months ago, people were saying America's not serious in taking this forward at all. America plainly is serious. The road map has been published.
SCHNEIDER: The president is under political pressure not to push the road map.
MARK EVANS, EVANGELIST MINISTER: This isn't a peace plan. It's an appeasement plan.
SCHNEIDER: The diplomatic pressure is coming from allies Bush owes, like Britain; from the Arab world, which wants to see a payoff from the Iraq war; and from the U.S. State Department, whose priorities seem to be shoved aside during the war. The diplomatic argument says that the promise of a Palestinian state at the end of the road map will be a powerful incentive for Arabs to crack down on terrorists. Palestinians agree.
DIANA BUTTU, PALESTINIAN LEGAL ADVISER: We don't have the military force to be able to stop them. The only thing that we do have is to try to convince them that Israel is truly interested in a two-state solution.
SCHNEIDER: The political opposition to the road map is coming from staunch Israel supporters in the Jewish community.
MORTON KLEIN, ZIONIST ORGANIZATION OF AMERICA: In the near future, I think we'll have many more people speaking out on the dangers of this road map.
SCHNEIDER: From Christian conservatives.
EVANS: Evangelical Christians will be very concerned on anything that will weaken the state of Israel, because we believe that Israel is the last firewall between Islamic terrorism and the West.
SCHNEIDER: And from neo-conservative intellectuals who dismiss the road map as unrealistic.
JOSHUA MURAVCHIK, AMERICAN ENTERPRISE INSTITUTE: It won't succeed. And then I suppose at that point Bush would have the advantage of being able to say, well, I tried.
SCHNEIDER: Their argument: a Palestinian state will reward terrorism and encourage it.
KLEIN: President Bush is the first president in the -- of the United States to ever publicly endorse a Palestinian-Arab state. He did it two weeks after 9/11 occurred, essentially rewarding terrorism after we had our worst terrorist attack we've every endured.
SCHNEIDER: But the critics may be losing a crucial ally: Israel.
RA'ANAN GISSIN, SENIOR SHARON ADVISER: We in Israel, and I think the prime minister, too, trust President Bush that he will fulfill his commitment to the security of the state of Israel. And therefore, we are willing to take those risks, knowing that the United States is standing behind us.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
SCHNEIDER: Both President Bush and Prime Minister Sharon are defying their political base. If they stick with the road map, where can they look for political support? The answer, each other -- Judy.
WOODRUFF: All right. Bill Schneider, thank you very much. We're going to be watching it all next week.
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 May 29, 2003 - 15:21 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
JUDY WOODRUFF, CNN ANCHOR: In Jerusalem, the Israeli and Palestinian prime ministers have been talking one-on-one before their upcoming summit with president Bush. Ariel Sharon and Mahmoud Abbas were widely (UNINTELLIGIBLE) to strike a positive note in their discussions of the U.S.-backed peace road map. But going into the talks, the two sides remained at odds over key elements of the blueprint for ending Middle East violence and moving toward a Palestinian state.
When President Bush travels to the Middle East next week, he will bring with him some baggage. Political pressures from both supporters and opponents of the road map to peace. Here now, our senior political analyst, Bill Schneider.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
GEORGE W. BUSH, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: I'm committed to working toward peace in the Middle East.
WILLIAM SCHNEIDER, CNN SR. POLITICAL ANALYST (voice-over): The issue is, how committed? The president is under diplomatic pressure to push the road map.
TONY BLAIR, BRITISH PRIME MINISTER: A few months ago, people were saying America's not serious in taking this forward at all. America plainly is serious. The road map has been published.
SCHNEIDER: The president is under political pressure not to push the road map.
MARK EVANS, EVANGELIST MINISTER: This isn't a peace plan. It's an appeasement plan.
SCHNEIDER: The diplomatic pressure is coming from allies Bush owes, like Britain; from the Arab world, which wants to see a payoff from the Iraq war; and from the U.S. State Department, whose priorities seem to be shoved aside during the war. The diplomatic argument says that the promise of a Palestinian state at the end of the road map will be a powerful incentive for Arabs to crack down on terrorists. Palestinians agree.
DIANA BUTTU, PALESTINIAN LEGAL ADVISER: We don't have the military force to be able to stop them. The only thing that we do have is to try to convince them that Israel is truly interested in a two-state solution.
SCHNEIDER: The political opposition to the road map is coming from staunch Israel supporters in the Jewish community.
MORTON KLEIN, ZIONIST ORGANIZATION OF AMERICA: In the near future, I think we'll have many more people speaking out on the dangers of this road map.
SCHNEIDER: From Christian conservatives.
EVANS: Evangelical Christians will be very concerned on anything that will weaken the state of Israel, because we believe that Israel is the last firewall between Islamic terrorism and the West.
SCHNEIDER: And from neo-conservative intellectuals who dismiss the road map as unrealistic.
JOSHUA MURAVCHIK, AMERICAN ENTERPRISE INSTITUTE: It won't succeed. And then I suppose at that point Bush would have the advantage of being able to say, well, I tried.
SCHNEIDER: Their argument: a Palestinian state will reward terrorism and encourage it.
KLEIN: President Bush is the first president in the -- of the United States to ever publicly endorse a Palestinian-Arab state. He did it two weeks after 9/11 occurred, essentially rewarding terrorism after we had our worst terrorist attack we've every endured.
SCHNEIDER: But the critics may be losing a crucial ally: Israel.
RA'ANAN GISSIN, SENIOR SHARON ADVISER: We in Israel, and I think the prime minister, too, trust President Bush that he will fulfill his commitment to the security of the state of Israel. And therefore, we are willing to take those risks, knowing that the United States is standing behind us.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
SCHNEIDER: Both President Bush and Prime Minister Sharon are defying their political base. If they stick with the road map, where can they look for political support? The answer, each other -- Judy.
WOODRUFF: All right. Bill Schneider, thank you very much. We're going to be watching it all next week.
TO ORDER A VIDEO OF THIS TRANSCRIPT, PLEASE CALL 800-CNN-NEWS OR USE OUR SECURE ONLINE ORDER FORM LOCATED AT www.fdch.com
