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CNN Sunday Morning
Powell Discusses Road Map With Abbas, Sharon
Aired May 11, 2003 - 11:04 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.
FREDRICKA WHITFIELD, CNN ANCHOR: On to the Middle East now where a new push to get peace talk going again is getting top priority today. U.S. Secretary of State Colin Powell has been discussing the so-called road map in separate meetings with Israeli and Palestinian leaders and is meeting with new Palestinian Prime Minister Mahmoud Abbas, was in the West Bank town of Jericho.
CNN's Jerrold Kessel has a closer look on that now and how encouraged are they about those meetings Jerrold?
JERROLD KESSEL, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Hi, Fredricka. Well, Mr. Powell is concluding two important meetings recently here with the newly installed Palestinian Prime Minister Mahmoud Abbas in the West Bank down of Jericho. Earlier, he had met with Israel a Prime Minister Ariel Sharon.
And the message Mr. Powell came away with was basically, it seemed to be the same message he'd been telling two sides all along in the 24-hours or so since he's been here in saying, let's get started. Let's get things on the road. Let's not get distracted by the differences -- the obvious differences that the two sides' have with each other about implementing this road map.
Now, that seems to be a brave policy of the United States because it seems to be flying in the face of reality. In the face of the two sides' position because what we have is an old endless loop that Mr. Powell warned before coming here, between the two sides, a loop of negotiating about negotiations. Who should go first?
The Israelis charging that the Palestinians must first act firmly against terror before they can do anything substantive to improve the lot of ordinary Palestinians and get peace talks going with some kind of hope. The Palestinians insisting that the Israelis, and they're right about that, they haven't even accepted the road map in principle. So there's no point in them being asked to meet their obligations when the Israelis aren't even onboard with this road map.
But Mr. Powell's approach, seemed to be during these negotiations and at the two press conferences that he had after them, of saying that simply, we'll ignore those differences, those obvious, major stumbling blocks on the road to peace. And simply be content with the promises that the two sides have made to get things done: the Palestinians to tackle terror, the Israelis to make some kind of moves to alleviate the plight of the Palestinian people.
Whether it's enough, very dubious indeed, but that seems to be the high stakes approach that the United States is adopting in a very difficult circumstance with the two sides still at loggerheads and still accusing each other of not wanting to go ahead -- Fredricka.
WHITFIELD: All right. Thanks very much, Jerrold.
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 11, 2003 - 11:04 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
FREDRICKA WHITFIELD, CNN ANCHOR: On to the Middle East now where a new push to get peace talk going again is getting top priority today. U.S. Secretary of State Colin Powell has been discussing the so-called road map in separate meetings with Israeli and Palestinian leaders and is meeting with new Palestinian Prime Minister Mahmoud Abbas, was in the West Bank town of Jericho.
CNN's Jerrold Kessel has a closer look on that now and how encouraged are they about those meetings Jerrold?
JERROLD KESSEL, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Hi, Fredricka. Well, Mr. Powell is concluding two important meetings recently here with the newly installed Palestinian Prime Minister Mahmoud Abbas in the West Bank down of Jericho. Earlier, he had met with Israel a Prime Minister Ariel Sharon.
And the message Mr. Powell came away with was basically, it seemed to be the same message he'd been telling two sides all along in the 24-hours or so since he's been here in saying, let's get started. Let's get things on the road. Let's not get distracted by the differences -- the obvious differences that the two sides' have with each other about implementing this road map.
Now, that seems to be a brave policy of the United States because it seems to be flying in the face of reality. In the face of the two sides' position because what we have is an old endless loop that Mr. Powell warned before coming here, between the two sides, a loop of negotiating about negotiations. Who should go first?
The Israelis charging that the Palestinians must first act firmly against terror before they can do anything substantive to improve the lot of ordinary Palestinians and get peace talks going with some kind of hope. The Palestinians insisting that the Israelis, and they're right about that, they haven't even accepted the road map in principle. So there's no point in them being asked to meet their obligations when the Israelis aren't even onboard with this road map.
But Mr. Powell's approach, seemed to be during these negotiations and at the two press conferences that he had after them, of saying that simply, we'll ignore those differences, those obvious, major stumbling blocks on the road to peace. And simply be content with the promises that the two sides have made to get things done: the Palestinians to tackle terror, the Israelis to make some kind of moves to alleviate the plight of the Palestinian people.
Whether it's enough, very dubious indeed, but that seems to be the high stakes approach that the United States is adopting in a very difficult circumstance with the two sides still at loggerheads and still accusing each other of not wanting to go ahead -- Fredricka.
WHITFIELD: All right. Thanks very much, Jerrold.
TO ORDER A VIDEO OF THIS TRANSCRIPT, PLEASE CALL 800-CNN-NEWS OR USE OUR SECURE ONLINE ORDER FORM LOCATED AT www.fdch.com
