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American Morning
Israel's Sharon to Meet With President Bush Tuesday
Aired July 28, 2003 - 06:35 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.
CAROL COSTELLO, CNN ANCHOR: Abbas is gone; Sharon is here. The Israeli prime minister flew into D.C., and he'll meet with President Bush tomorrow. Of course, the Bush administration is pushing Israel to comply with demands set out by that road map to peace.
Live to the White House and correspondent Dana Bash.
Good morning -- Dana.
DANA BASH, CNN WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT: Good morning, Carol.
Pushing Israel, much like they pushed the Palestinians, when Palestinian Prime Minister Mahmoud Abbas was here for the very first time on Friday. And as for Ariel Sharon, he is here today. He is scheduled to meet with the president's national security advisor, Condoleezza Rice, in advance of the meeting here in the Oval Office with President Bush.
Now, these meetings are all part of the president trying to fulfill his promise to -- quote -- "ride herd." That, of course, is his way of saying that he wants to stay engaged with his help and with the help of his aides to push both sides along the road map to peace.
Now, this is the first time that Ariel Sharon will be at the White House since the actual formal peace process was re-launched in the spring, and there are some contentious issues that the two men are going to talk about. First of all is that so-called wall that is being built through the West Bank of Israel, Israelis say that is essential for their security there. But the president on Friday standing next to Prime Minister Abbas in the Rose Garden said that he does think it is a problem. He agreed with Abbas that it is something that is not a confidence-builder for the two sides.
Now, another issue is the whole question of political Palestinian prisoners in Israel. The president did not publicly pressure Ariel Sharon on Friday to release those. He said that he couldn't in good conscious ask a country to release anyone who could be of harm to them. But as a goodwill gesture, Ariel Sharon did release -- announced that he was going to release perhaps a couple of hundred prisoners right before he came to Washington -- Carol.
COSTELLO: Dana Bash live from the White House this morning.
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 July 28, 2003 - 06:35 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
CAROL COSTELLO, CNN ANCHOR: Abbas is gone; Sharon is here. The Israeli prime minister flew into D.C., and he'll meet with President Bush tomorrow. Of course, the Bush administration is pushing Israel to comply with demands set out by that road map to peace.
Live to the White House and correspondent Dana Bash.
Good morning -- Dana.
DANA BASH, CNN WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT: Good morning, Carol.
Pushing Israel, much like they pushed the Palestinians, when Palestinian Prime Minister Mahmoud Abbas was here for the very first time on Friday. And as for Ariel Sharon, he is here today. He is scheduled to meet with the president's national security advisor, Condoleezza Rice, in advance of the meeting here in the Oval Office with President Bush.
Now, these meetings are all part of the president trying to fulfill his promise to -- quote -- "ride herd." That, of course, is his way of saying that he wants to stay engaged with his help and with the help of his aides to push both sides along the road map to peace.
Now, this is the first time that Ariel Sharon will be at the White House since the actual formal peace process was re-launched in the spring, and there are some contentious issues that the two men are going to talk about. First of all is that so-called wall that is being built through the West Bank of Israel, Israelis say that is essential for their security there. But the president on Friday standing next to Prime Minister Abbas in the Rose Garden said that he does think it is a problem. He agreed with Abbas that it is something that is not a confidence-builder for the two sides.
Now, another issue is the whole question of political Palestinian prisoners in Israel. The president did not publicly pressure Ariel Sharon on Friday to release those. He said that he couldn't in good conscious ask a country to release anyone who could be of harm to them. But as a goodwill gesture, Ariel Sharon did release -- announced that he was going to release perhaps a couple of hundred prisoners right before he came to Washington -- Carol.
COSTELLO: Dana Bash live from the White House this morning.
TO ORDER A VIDEO OF THIS TRANSCRIPT, PLEASE CALL 800-CNN-NEWS OR USE OUR SECURE ONLINE ORDER FORM LOCATED AT www.fdch.com.
