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Morning News

President Clinton Discusses Middle East Peace With Egyptian President

Aired August 29, 2000 - 10:01 a.m. ET

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.

DARYN KAGAN, CNN ANCHOR: Air Force One delivered both President Clinton and his hopes for Middle East peace to Egypt this morning. But when the flight took off, a mere 90 minutes later, those prospects remained very much grounded.

Mr. Clinton's brief meeting with Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak is the latest leg of a joint peace mission that is both ageless and now increasingly urgent.

CNN senior White House correspondent John King has the story.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

JOHN KING, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): The two leaders voiced hope their meeting would help put the stalled Israeli- Palestinian peace process back on track, but President Clinton spoke in a measured, subdued tone, the disappointment of last month's Camp David summit still fresh.

WILLIAM J. CLINTON, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: We're going to work together and see if we can find a way to help the parties get over this next big hump.

KING: Yasser Arafat was in Cairo over the weekend, and Mr. Mubarak urged the Palestinian leader not to take provocative steps if no agreement is reached by the fast-approaching September 13th deadline.

HOSNI MUBARAK, PRESIDENT OF EGYPT: I'm always hopeful, and I think with the cooperation from the United States and their support, I think this will be reached.

KING: No outside leaders hold more influence over the peace process, but this relationship has been strained a bit of late. Mr. Clinton left Camp David exasperated, said Mr. Arafat was being too inflexible on the key issue of power sharing in Jerusalem. The president told aides at the time that he was frustrated that appeals to Mr. Mubarak and other Arab leaders for help were ignored.

But President Mubarak has been in constant touch with Israeli and Palestinian officials since the Camp David talks broke up, and the Egyptian leader has made several compromise proposals of his own. DENNIS ROSS, U.S. MIDDLE EAST ENVOY: There's no question in our mind that there's a genuine effort being made by everybody involved to see if an agreement is possible.

KING: There was no breakthrough, but aides say Mr. Clinton left Cairo with a better understanding of Mr. Mubarak's views.

(on camera): The next big test comes September 6th, just one week before the deadline, when Mr. Clinton meets separately in New York with Mr. Arafat and the Israeli prime minister, Ehud Barak. It is after those discussions that the president will decide whether it's worth brining the parties back to the United States for another peace summit.

John King, CNN, Cairo.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

BILL HEMMER, CNN ANCHOR: The U.S. has dispatched its Middle East envoy, Dennis Ross, to Israel, where the September 13th deadline ticking, ticking loudly and somewhat ominously as well.

Our Jerusalem bureau chief, Mike Hanna, now, live with the view from the Middle East there in Israel.

Mike, hello.

MIKE HANNA, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Hello, Bill.

Well, Dennis Ross has held a meeting with Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Barak, in all likelihood briefing him on what was discussed at the morning meeting in Cairo. And from the Palestinian perspective, one Palestinian source has told CNN that the Egyptian developments are the only game in town. He said, too, that the Egyptian proposals are very close to the Palestinian position. This we cannot confirm at this particular stage, but certainly Mr. Mubarak has injected a new life in what appeared to be a stalled peace process.

He had a meeting with Yasser Arafat over this past weekend. Mr. Arafat will be returning to Cairo for yet another meeting Wednesday.

And earlier this money, Mr. Mubarak held a meeting with the acting Israeli foreign minister, Shlomo Ben Ami.

So Mr. Mubarak has taken a very central position in developments in recent weeks, a position that all parties hope may lead to a breaking of what has become a deadlock in this ongoing peace process, Bill.

HEMMER: Mike Hanna, live in Jerusalem.

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