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CNN Live Sunday
Netanyahu to Become Foreign Minister if Sharon Meets Conditions
Aired November 03, 2002 - 18:43 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.
ANDERSON COOPER, CNN ANCHOR: Former Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu says he will accept the post of foreign minister in the government of his Likud Party rival, Ariel Sharon, if Mr. Sharon meets his conditions.
CNN's Jerrold Kessel reports now from Jerusalem.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
JERROLD KESSEL, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): A complex political chess game under way, as Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon attempts to stitch together a right-wing religious far right government to stay in power after the Israeli Labor Party quits his national unity government in a dispute over funding for West Bank Jewish settlements.
"Given the challenges we face, enlisting Benjamin Netanyahu's talents could strengthen the government," Sharon told the depleted cabinet table of his offer to enlist the former Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu as his foreign minister.
There's little love lost between Sharon and Netanyahu, and the offer to the man who was seeking to challenge the prime minister for the Likud Party leadership before elections next year is believed aimed at deflecting that Netanyahu challenge. But Netanyahu, who told aides he know Sharon wanted to box him in, took up the offer and told the prime minister, yes, he'd become foreign minister under him, but on condition that Sharon agreed to go to an election early next year, rather than try to get a narrow right-wing government to last until October next year, when elections are mandatory.
BENJAMIN NETANYAHU, FORMER ISRAELI PRIME MINISTER: This is the right thing to do for the country, I hope the prime minister does it.
KESSEL (on camera): The prime minister has been active on another front. He called the U.S. ambassador in Tel Aviv, Dan Kurtzer, to, we are told, reassure the United States that there'll be no change in these policies, both in how he battles the Palestinians, and in not blocking the U.S. moves to relaunch a full scale peace program, alongside its campaign against Saddam Hussein's Iraq.
(voice-over): The Israeli leader has acknowledged that in real peace talks, painful concessions would have to be made. His former foreign minister, Shimon Peres, who was meeting Palestinian leaders in the Mediterranean island of Mallorca, is said to have quipped: "When Ariel Sharon talks of painful concessions, he means Palestinian concessions."
In Tel Aviv, at this memorial rally for the late assassinated Prime Minister Yitzhak Rabin, concerned over the shaping of Mr. Sharon's policies now.
Sending video messages to the rally, former U.S. President Bill Clinton, Egypt's President Hosni Mubarak, and Jordan's King Abdullah.
KING ABDULLAH, JORDAN: Now, it's up to us to listen to the voices of peace, or to bow to the obstructionists, the extremists, the opportunists. We can deliver on the promise of this century, but only if we choose wisely. Let us choose peace.
KESSEL: A choice that may not right now be on the table, however. Current realities both in Israel and in the region as a whole seem to reflect more of the hard-line complexion of the projected new Israeli government, whether that government lasts, only as Benjamin Netanyahu wants, until early next year, or as Ariel Sharon wants, through until next October.
Jerrold Kessel, CNN, Jerusalem.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
TO ORDER A VIDEO OF THIS TRANSCRIPT, PLEASE CALL 800-CNN-NEWS OR USE OUR SECURE ONLINE ORDER FORM LOCATED AT www.fdch.com
Conditions>
Aired November 3, 2002 - 18:43 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
ANDERSON COOPER, CNN ANCHOR: Former Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu says he will accept the post of foreign minister in the government of his Likud Party rival, Ariel Sharon, if Mr. Sharon meets his conditions.
CNN's Jerrold Kessel reports now from Jerusalem.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
JERROLD KESSEL, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): A complex political chess game under way, as Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon attempts to stitch together a right-wing religious far right government to stay in power after the Israeli Labor Party quits his national unity government in a dispute over funding for West Bank Jewish settlements.
"Given the challenges we face, enlisting Benjamin Netanyahu's talents could strengthen the government," Sharon told the depleted cabinet table of his offer to enlist the former Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu as his foreign minister.
There's little love lost between Sharon and Netanyahu, and the offer to the man who was seeking to challenge the prime minister for the Likud Party leadership before elections next year is believed aimed at deflecting that Netanyahu challenge. But Netanyahu, who told aides he know Sharon wanted to box him in, took up the offer and told the prime minister, yes, he'd become foreign minister under him, but on condition that Sharon agreed to go to an election early next year, rather than try to get a narrow right-wing government to last until October next year, when elections are mandatory.
BENJAMIN NETANYAHU, FORMER ISRAELI PRIME MINISTER: This is the right thing to do for the country, I hope the prime minister does it.
KESSEL (on camera): The prime minister has been active on another front. He called the U.S. ambassador in Tel Aviv, Dan Kurtzer, to, we are told, reassure the United States that there'll be no change in these policies, both in how he battles the Palestinians, and in not blocking the U.S. moves to relaunch a full scale peace program, alongside its campaign against Saddam Hussein's Iraq.
(voice-over): The Israeli leader has acknowledged that in real peace talks, painful concessions would have to be made. His former foreign minister, Shimon Peres, who was meeting Palestinian leaders in the Mediterranean island of Mallorca, is said to have quipped: "When Ariel Sharon talks of painful concessions, he means Palestinian concessions."
In Tel Aviv, at this memorial rally for the late assassinated Prime Minister Yitzhak Rabin, concerned over the shaping of Mr. Sharon's policies now.
Sending video messages to the rally, former U.S. President Bill Clinton, Egypt's President Hosni Mubarak, and Jordan's King Abdullah.
KING ABDULLAH, JORDAN: Now, it's up to us to listen to the voices of peace, or to bow to the obstructionists, the extremists, the opportunists. We can deliver on the promise of this century, but only if we choose wisely. Let us choose peace.
KESSEL: A choice that may not right now be on the table, however. Current realities both in Israel and in the region as a whole seem to reflect more of the hard-line complexion of the projected new Israeli government, whether that government lasts, only as Benjamin Netanyahu wants, until early next year, or as Ariel Sharon wants, through until next October.
Jerrold Kessel, CNN, Jerusalem.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
TO ORDER A VIDEO OF THIS TRANSCRIPT, PLEASE CALL 800-CNN-NEWS OR USE OUR SECURE ONLINE ORDER FORM LOCATED AT www.fdch.com
Conditions>
