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American Morning
'Cautious Skepticism' Among Israelis, Palestinians
Aired June 05, 2003 - 09:05 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.
BILL HEMMER, CNN ANCHOR: The Middle East yet again now, Palestinian President Yasser Arafat was not invited to that Middle East summit in Jordan. He's criticizing Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon and his remarks at the event, saying he offered nothing substantial to Palestinians. Arafat's views are not the only skepticism in the region. We have seen it so far in the past 24 hours from both sides.
Live to Jerusalem and Jerrold Kessel, who is tracking that a day later -- Jerrold, good afternoon there.
JERROLD KESSEL, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Hi, Bill. Good morning to you.
And that was exactly the impression we got when we were out on the West Bank this morning talking to Jewish settlers, talking to Palestinians, again, talking to Israelis and Palestinians here in Jerusalem this morning. You could sum it up as cautious skepticism. Yesterday it was all about the spirited sentiments expressed at that Aqaba summit. Today it's all about doubts.
Yesterday, Israelis and Palestinians were watching with rapt attention as their two prime ministers committed themselves to fulfill a whole lot of obligations to make the American sponsored peace initiative go forward. Today, those first steps, very tentative first steps towards implementing those pledges to make peace go forward.
On the Palestinian side, Mahmoud Abbas, the Palestinian prime minister, preparing to meet with Hamas and other radical groups to try to convince them to sign on to a full cease-fire and not to continue attacking Israelis. And on the Israeli side, preparations for removing some, some of those settlement outposts, of how many will be removed, in what manner they will be removed.
But that is an issue which has been causing a good deal of consternation among Palestinians, that the Israelis didn't sign on to commit themselves to remove all the settlement outposts. And it was summed up by Palestinian Authority President Yasser Arafat, who, of course, was left out of those summits of the last couple of days, he this morning meeting with UNESCO representatives at his beleaguered headquarters in Ramallah on the West Bank. And he said Ariel Sharon, Israel's prime minister, had given the Palestinians virtually nothing, promised them nothing at that summit. And he said what's the use of moving a few caravans or trailers around and declaring you've uprooted a settlement? Yasser Arafat expressing a good deal of skepticism.
So a lot of difficulties on the road to translating those promises, those spirited sentiments at Aqaba yesterday, into real facts on the ground that will change the Palestinian-Israeli equation and move the two sides down to where President Bush said he wants to push them, down that peace road -- Bill.
HEMMER: It will not be easy.
Jerrold Kessel live in Jerusalem.
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 5, 2003 - 09:05 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
BILL HEMMER, CNN ANCHOR: The Middle East yet again now, Palestinian President Yasser Arafat was not invited to that Middle East summit in Jordan. He's criticizing Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon and his remarks at the event, saying he offered nothing substantial to Palestinians. Arafat's views are not the only skepticism in the region. We have seen it so far in the past 24 hours from both sides.
Live to Jerusalem and Jerrold Kessel, who is tracking that a day later -- Jerrold, good afternoon there.
JERROLD KESSEL, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Hi, Bill. Good morning to you.
And that was exactly the impression we got when we were out on the West Bank this morning talking to Jewish settlers, talking to Palestinians, again, talking to Israelis and Palestinians here in Jerusalem this morning. You could sum it up as cautious skepticism. Yesterday it was all about the spirited sentiments expressed at that Aqaba summit. Today it's all about doubts.
Yesterday, Israelis and Palestinians were watching with rapt attention as their two prime ministers committed themselves to fulfill a whole lot of obligations to make the American sponsored peace initiative go forward. Today, those first steps, very tentative first steps towards implementing those pledges to make peace go forward.
On the Palestinian side, Mahmoud Abbas, the Palestinian prime minister, preparing to meet with Hamas and other radical groups to try to convince them to sign on to a full cease-fire and not to continue attacking Israelis. And on the Israeli side, preparations for removing some, some of those settlement outposts, of how many will be removed, in what manner they will be removed.
But that is an issue which has been causing a good deal of consternation among Palestinians, that the Israelis didn't sign on to commit themselves to remove all the settlement outposts. And it was summed up by Palestinian Authority President Yasser Arafat, who, of course, was left out of those summits of the last couple of days, he this morning meeting with UNESCO representatives at his beleaguered headquarters in Ramallah on the West Bank. And he said Ariel Sharon, Israel's prime minister, had given the Palestinians virtually nothing, promised them nothing at that summit. And he said what's the use of moving a few caravans or trailers around and declaring you've uprooted a settlement? Yasser Arafat expressing a good deal of skepticism.
So a lot of difficulties on the road to translating those promises, those spirited sentiments at Aqaba yesterday, into real facts on the ground that will change the Palestinian-Israeli equation and move the two sides down to where President Bush said he wants to push them, down that peace road -- Bill.
HEMMER: It will not be easy.
Jerrold Kessel live in Jerusalem.
TO ORDER A VIDEO OF THIS TRANSCRIPT, PLEASE CALL 800-CNN-NEWS OR USE OUR SECURE ONLINE ORDER FORM LOCATED AT www.fdch.com
