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Colin Powell Met With Palestinian, Israeli Leaders

Aired June 20, 2003 - 14:14   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.


KYRA PHILLIPS, CNN ANCHOR: The latest on the efforts to get the road map to peace in the Middle East back on track.
Secretary of State Colin Powell met today with Palestinian and Israeli leaders.

Our Sheila MacVicar joins us from Jerusalem with more on what took place -- Sheila.

SHEILA MACVICAR, CNN CORRESPONDENT: It was kind of a check-up visit, if you will, sort of dropping in to talk to both leaders, both sides, to remind them of their responsibilities, what they have signed up to with President Bush's road map to peace and review the progress or, in some cases, the lack of progress.

Since that road map was unveiled just a few weeks ago, just the beginning of this month, more than 50 people on both sides have died in violence. The latest, an Israeli man killed today in a shooting in the West Bank town of Ramallah. In his meetings with both Israeli Prime Minister Sharon and Palestinian Prime Minister Mahmoud Abbas, Colin Powell emphasized the need for both sides to try to engage what he called confidence-building measures, reminding the Israeli prime reminding that Israel had responsibilities, and then again, reminding the Palestinian prime minister that there were a number of things which had to be done.

Now over the course of this last week, there has been a lot of talk about the possibility of some kind of a truce or a cease-fire being negotiated by the Palestinian prime minister with the militant extremist groups like Hamas and Islamic Jihad. Today, the secretary of state made very clear that a cease-fire, as far as he was concerned, would simply not be enough.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

COLIN POWELL, SECY. OF STATE: The enemy of peace has been Hamas, especially over the last two weeks. I don't think it's possible any longer to separate out into various pieces. The funding is fungible, the leadership takes credit, and despite whatever other charitable or other social good these organizations may perform, as long as they have as an organizational culture a commitment to terror and violence, and a desire to destroy the state of Israel, I think this a problem we have to deal with in its entirety.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

MACVICAR: The secretary of state went on to say that in his view Hamas and Islamic Jihad had to be disarmed. That is also the view of the Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon.

Just a short while ago, there was reaction from a leading Hamas figure, Abdul Aziz Rantissi. He was the subject of an attempted assassination attack last week by Israelis, which was then quickly very followed up by the suicide bombing followed out by Hamas. This is what Mr. Rantissi had to say.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

ABDUL AZIZ RANTISSI, HAMAS: Colin Powell gave his testimony today that he is totally with the Israeli terror (ph), against Palestinian rights. He is an enemy to Palestinians, and the Palestinian rights and Palestinian hopes of freedom and independence.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

MACVICAR: And so it seems that if the Palestinian prime minister thought that he had seen a way forward by perhaps creating some kind of a cease-fire or truce agreement with the militant groups, it now seems that is not acceptable to the U.S. secretary of state, or to the government of Israel, and it seems that Hamas has, again, been angered by what they have heard from the secretary of state -- Kyra.

PHILLIPS: Our Sheila MacVicar, live from Jerusalem. Thank you.

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 June 20, 2003 - 14:14   ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
KYRA PHILLIPS, CNN ANCHOR: The latest on the efforts to get the road map to peace in the Middle East back on track.
Secretary of State Colin Powell met today with Palestinian and Israeli leaders.

Our Sheila MacVicar joins us from Jerusalem with more on what took place -- Sheila.

SHEILA MACVICAR, CNN CORRESPONDENT: It was kind of a check-up visit, if you will, sort of dropping in to talk to both leaders, both sides, to remind them of their responsibilities, what they have signed up to with President Bush's road map to peace and review the progress or, in some cases, the lack of progress.

Since that road map was unveiled just a few weeks ago, just the beginning of this month, more than 50 people on both sides have died in violence. The latest, an Israeli man killed today in a shooting in the West Bank town of Ramallah. In his meetings with both Israeli Prime Minister Sharon and Palestinian Prime Minister Mahmoud Abbas, Colin Powell emphasized the need for both sides to try to engage what he called confidence-building measures, reminding the Israeli prime reminding that Israel had responsibilities, and then again, reminding the Palestinian prime minister that there were a number of things which had to be done.

Now over the course of this last week, there has been a lot of talk about the possibility of some kind of a truce or a cease-fire being negotiated by the Palestinian prime minister with the militant extremist groups like Hamas and Islamic Jihad. Today, the secretary of state made very clear that a cease-fire, as far as he was concerned, would simply not be enough.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

COLIN POWELL, SECY. OF STATE: The enemy of peace has been Hamas, especially over the last two weeks. I don't think it's possible any longer to separate out into various pieces. The funding is fungible, the leadership takes credit, and despite whatever other charitable or other social good these organizations may perform, as long as they have as an organizational culture a commitment to terror and violence, and a desire to destroy the state of Israel, I think this a problem we have to deal with in its entirety.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

MACVICAR: The secretary of state went on to say that in his view Hamas and Islamic Jihad had to be disarmed. That is also the view of the Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon.

Just a short while ago, there was reaction from a leading Hamas figure, Abdul Aziz Rantissi. He was the subject of an attempted assassination attack last week by Israelis, which was then quickly very followed up by the suicide bombing followed out by Hamas. This is what Mr. Rantissi had to say.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

ABDUL AZIZ RANTISSI, HAMAS: Colin Powell gave his testimony today that he is totally with the Israeli terror (ph), against Palestinian rights. He is an enemy to Palestinians, and the Palestinian rights and Palestinian hopes of freedom and independence.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

MACVICAR: And so it seems that if the Palestinian prime minister thought that he had seen a way forward by perhaps creating some kind of a cease-fire or truce agreement with the militant groups, it now seems that is not acceptable to the U.S. secretary of state, or to the government of Israel, and it seems that Hamas has, again, been angered by what they have heard from the secretary of state -- Kyra.

PHILLIPS: Our Sheila MacVicar, live from Jerusalem. Thank you.

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