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American Morning
Powell Will Address Palestinian Statehood At University of Louisville
Aired November 19, 2001 - 08:19 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.
PAULA ZAHN, CNN ANCHOR: Now we move onto the conflict in the Middle East. Secretary of State Colin Powell will address the issue of Palestinian statehood today in a major speech at the University of Louisville. There is some hope that dangling this particular carrot in front of the Palestinians just might stop the violence and restart the peace process.
CNN's Senior White House Correspondent John King reports on just what the administration has in mind. Good morning John.
JOHN KING, CNN SENIOR WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT: Good morning to you, Paula. The administration hoping to revive -- hoping yet again to revive the long stalled Israeli-Palestinian peace process. This speech by the Secretary of State today was to have been delivered in early September, delayed by the tragic events of September 11th.
Since then the president himself has gone on the record saying he would hope that at the end of a peace process there would be a Palestinian state, so there's not as much splash, if you will, in the secretary state -- secretary of state's speech, there might have been if he had delivered it on schedule. But Secretary Powell will today say the United States envisions a Palestinian state at the end of an Israeli peace process. He will urge both sides to get back to the bargaining table.
Tensions, though, of months -- over the last several months have kept that from happening and as the administration dangles a carrot, if you will, an overture to the Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat of support for Palestinian state, the president's national security adviser Condoleezza Rice also making clear over the weekend the administration in other ways still unhappy with Mr. Arafat.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
CONDOLEEZZA RICE, NATIONAL SECURITY ADVISER TO THE PRESIDENT: What we've said to him is that responsible leadership means that you can not associate with terrorists. We've said that to responsible leaders all over the world, and we've asked him to demonstrate that responsible leadership by arresting terrorists; by dealing with them; by making certain that they are not in his midst so that conditions can be created on the ground and a future vision of a Middle East in which Israel is secure and there is a secure Palestinian state where the Palestinian people can determine their own destiny, can be fulfilled.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
KING: Again, it's an effort by the Bush administration to get the Israelis and Palestinians talking once again, but not a great deal of optimism as the secretary of state prepares to deliver this major policy address today. Just over the weekend the European Union delegation traveling in the region. The Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon holding fast to his pledge that he will not enter into the so- called cooling period as envisioned in the George Mitchell Peace Plan until there are seven days of total non violence in the Palestinian territories. Most U.S. officials believe that is unrealistic. They have been urging the Israeli leader to back off just a bit, but so far he has refused to do so. Paula.
ZAHN: John, before we let you go, please walk us through some of -- part of the president's schedule -- he's headed to Reagan National and he will sign the aviation security bill. Is that true?
KING: He will -- the long awaited aviation security bill finally made out of the Congress last week. The president will sign it. It calls for about 28,000 airport screening workers to become federal employees over the next year or so. All of them will be trained by the federal government. When you go through at an airport, those will now be federal employees checking in your bags. Once that training and the hiring is completed, after about three years, that could go back to the current arrangement. It will be up to airports after three years to decide whether to stick with the federal employees or to then go out to private contracting or local law enforcement officials. This viewed as one way to improve airport security.
Other measures in this long awaited piece of legislation, those cockpit door improvements in aircraft, also new screening procedures especially designed to sniff out any explosives at an airport. So the president will sign that bill today. It puts into law those new security measures. The president hopes it inspires Americans to travel over the coming holiday period. Paula.
ZAHN: All right John, thanks so much, appreciate it.
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