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CNN Sunday Morning
Bush Monitors Middle East From Crawford
Aired June 29, 2003 - 08:04 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.
KELLI ARENA, CNN ANCHOR: President Bush is getting updates on Condoleezza Rice 's Middle East trip, while spending the weekend at his Crawford, Texas ranch.
CNN White House correspondent Dana Bash is traveling with the president and has more.
Good morning, Dana.
DANA BASH, CNN CORRESPONDENT: National Security Adviser Condoleezza Rice arriving in Jericho Saturday to meet with Palestinian Prime Minister Mahmoud Abbas and his top deputies. The first time visit to talk details with both Palestinians and Israelis of the tenuous U.S. backed Road Map and to send a signal, the White House is making good on this promise in Aqaba.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
GEORGE W. BUSH, PRESIDENT, UNITED STATES OF AMERICA: I strongly support Colin Powell and Dr. Rice as my personal representative; will work closely with the party, helping them move towards true peace as quickly as possible.
BASH (voice-over): Secretary of State Colin Powell was in the region just last week. All in an attempt to pick up momentum and keep it going. Sustained U.S. engagement says Rice' Democratic predecessor is crucial.
SAMUEL BERGER, FMR. NAT'L SECURITY ADVISER: Nothing significant can happen. And this has been the story of the last 35 years in the Middle East without strong U.S. involvement. And strong U.S. involvement inevitably means the credibility and the prestige of the president on the line.
BASH: That involvement, say White House officials, the president's Special Envoy John Wolf has set up shop in the region and Bush aides tout U.S. engagement as integral to Friday's agreement for Israeli troop withdrawal from some Palestinian territories. Administration officials also point to repeated calls for neighbors in the region, Arab states, to play a role.
BUSH: We must see organizations such as Hamas dismantled.
BASH: And press European leaders to stop funding of groups like Hamas. Some in the region, already skeptical of Mr. Bush question why as violence escalated, the president has not personally called either Prime Ministers Abbas or Sharon since Aqaba; especially since promising to, quote, "ride herd."
DAN BENJAMIN, CTR. FOR STRATEGIC INT'L STUDIES: Dr. Rice's trip is undoubtedly meant to rebut the widespread belief that the White House is not going to engage for an extended period of time. There's no question that this is meant to be a sign of seriousness given what her position is and the demands on her.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
BASH: Leaders in the region understand Dr. Rice is perhaps Mr. Bush's top adviser on international matters, so her visit allows them to know they're getting attention for somebody who speaks for the president and allows the White House to reserve the president's time for key moments in the process -- Kelli.
ARENA: Thanks very much, Dana.
Dana Bash traveling with the president in Crawford, Texas.
Well, we are now going to the Middle East and the rocky Road Map to Peace. There will be no truce announcement by Palestinian militants today. In Jerusalem, National Security Adviser Condoleezza Rice is meeting with Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon. She met separately with Palestinian leader Mahmoud Abbas yesterday.
Joining us live with the latest from Jerusalem is CNN's Sheila MacVicar.
SHEILA MACVICAR, CNN SENIOR INT'L CORRESPONDENT: Hi Kelli. Yes, indeed. National Security Adviser Condoleezza Rice continuing her visit here. It's an important visit, mostly taking place behind closed doors. No photo ops, no media opportunities, no press conferences. A signal perhaps of the amount of work that's really going on in those closed rooms.
She is meeting or has recently been meeting with Israeli security officials. She's met with the Israeli prime minister today. And earlier today, had a meeting with jointly with Israeli and Palestinian officials. A senior Palestinian official at that meeting telling CNN that a lot of progress has been made.
Now, it is symptomatic, I think, of just how fragile this process is and just how much both parties, Israelis and Palestinians require U.S. administration intervention to, if you will, coax, cajole and indeed, push and pressure them into making pressure on the -- progress on the Road Map, rather, that we've got the third visit in less than a month of a senior U.S. administration official. Of course, President Bush at the Aqaba summit, Secretary of State Colin Powell last weekend and now National Security Adviser Condoleezza Rice.
One place where there has been progress between Israelis and Palestinians again under the umbrella of American influence and pressure has been on the security transfer of the Gaza Strip back to the Palestinians. That agreement negotiated on Friday.
Israeli and Palestinian commanders on the ground in the northern part of the Gaza Strip today meeting together to try to deal with the logistics of precisely how they are going to carry that out, how they are going to manage the withdrawal of Israeli forces from the northern part of the Gaza Strip, remove Israeli check posts or most of them on the main Gazan highway and how Palestinian security forces will basically move in behind them.
So that's being worked out now and we're told that Israeli pull back could begin sometime tonight -- Kelli.
ARENA: Thank you very much, Sheila MacVicar live with us 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 29, 2003 - 08:04 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
KELLI ARENA, CNN ANCHOR: President Bush is getting updates on Condoleezza Rice 's Middle East trip, while spending the weekend at his Crawford, Texas ranch.
CNN White House correspondent Dana Bash is traveling with the president and has more.
Good morning, Dana.
DANA BASH, CNN CORRESPONDENT: National Security Adviser Condoleezza Rice arriving in Jericho Saturday to meet with Palestinian Prime Minister Mahmoud Abbas and his top deputies. The first time visit to talk details with both Palestinians and Israelis of the tenuous U.S. backed Road Map and to send a signal, the White House is making good on this promise in Aqaba.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
GEORGE W. BUSH, PRESIDENT, UNITED STATES OF AMERICA: I strongly support Colin Powell and Dr. Rice as my personal representative; will work closely with the party, helping them move towards true peace as quickly as possible.
BASH (voice-over): Secretary of State Colin Powell was in the region just last week. All in an attempt to pick up momentum and keep it going. Sustained U.S. engagement says Rice' Democratic predecessor is crucial.
SAMUEL BERGER, FMR. NAT'L SECURITY ADVISER: Nothing significant can happen. And this has been the story of the last 35 years in the Middle East without strong U.S. involvement. And strong U.S. involvement inevitably means the credibility and the prestige of the president on the line.
BASH: That involvement, say White House officials, the president's Special Envoy John Wolf has set up shop in the region and Bush aides tout U.S. engagement as integral to Friday's agreement for Israeli troop withdrawal from some Palestinian territories. Administration officials also point to repeated calls for neighbors in the region, Arab states, to play a role.
BUSH: We must see organizations such as Hamas dismantled.
BASH: And press European leaders to stop funding of groups like Hamas. Some in the region, already skeptical of Mr. Bush question why as violence escalated, the president has not personally called either Prime Ministers Abbas or Sharon since Aqaba; especially since promising to, quote, "ride herd."
DAN BENJAMIN, CTR. FOR STRATEGIC INT'L STUDIES: Dr. Rice's trip is undoubtedly meant to rebut the widespread belief that the White House is not going to engage for an extended period of time. There's no question that this is meant to be a sign of seriousness given what her position is and the demands on her.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
BASH: Leaders in the region understand Dr. Rice is perhaps Mr. Bush's top adviser on international matters, so her visit allows them to know they're getting attention for somebody who speaks for the president and allows the White House to reserve the president's time for key moments in the process -- Kelli.
ARENA: Thanks very much, Dana.
Dana Bash traveling with the president in Crawford, Texas.
Well, we are now going to the Middle East and the rocky Road Map to Peace. There will be no truce announcement by Palestinian militants today. In Jerusalem, National Security Adviser Condoleezza Rice is meeting with Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon. She met separately with Palestinian leader Mahmoud Abbas yesterday.
Joining us live with the latest from Jerusalem is CNN's Sheila MacVicar.
SHEILA MACVICAR, CNN SENIOR INT'L CORRESPONDENT: Hi Kelli. Yes, indeed. National Security Adviser Condoleezza Rice continuing her visit here. It's an important visit, mostly taking place behind closed doors. No photo ops, no media opportunities, no press conferences. A signal perhaps of the amount of work that's really going on in those closed rooms.
She is meeting or has recently been meeting with Israeli security officials. She's met with the Israeli prime minister today. And earlier today, had a meeting with jointly with Israeli and Palestinian officials. A senior Palestinian official at that meeting telling CNN that a lot of progress has been made.
Now, it is symptomatic, I think, of just how fragile this process is and just how much both parties, Israelis and Palestinians require U.S. administration intervention to, if you will, coax, cajole and indeed, push and pressure them into making pressure on the -- progress on the Road Map, rather, that we've got the third visit in less than a month of a senior U.S. administration official. Of course, President Bush at the Aqaba summit, Secretary of State Colin Powell last weekend and now National Security Adviser Condoleezza Rice.
One place where there has been progress between Israelis and Palestinians again under the umbrella of American influence and pressure has been on the security transfer of the Gaza Strip back to the Palestinians. That agreement negotiated on Friday.
Israeli and Palestinian commanders on the ground in the northern part of the Gaza Strip today meeting together to try to deal with the logistics of precisely how they are going to carry that out, how they are going to manage the withdrawal of Israeli forces from the northern part of the Gaza Strip, remove Israeli check posts or most of them on the main Gazan highway and how Palestinian security forces will basically move in behind them.
So that's being worked out now and we're told that Israeli pull back could begin sometime tonight -- Kelli.
ARENA: Thank you very much, Sheila MacVicar live with us 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
