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CNN LIVE AT DAYBREAK

Ariel Sharon's Major Policy Speech

Aired December 18, 2003 - 06:05   ET

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

CAROL COSTELLO, CNN ANCHOR: In what could be an ominous speech in Israel today, Ariel Sharon will talk about the road map to peace and what will happen if the Palestinians don't follow it. He used the words, "unilateral action." What exactly does that mean?
Let's head live to Jerusalem and John Vause to explain.

Good morning -- John.

JOHN VAUSE, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Good morning, Carol.

Well, what it basically means is that the Israel prime minister, Ariel Sharon, is willing to give a period of time to the Palestinians to act. If he believes that they are not doing enough, then he says Israel will act alone. What does that mean? It means that Israel will withdraw from parts of the West Bank that it doesn't want, and it will keep the parts that it does -- i.e., the major settlement areas.

Palestinians, though, don't want this. Even though they want Israel out of the West Bank, they say that it if Israel does this unilateral withdrawal, the Israelis will be deciding the future borders of a Palestinian state -- borders which the Palestinians don't agree to and borders which they won't respect -- Carol.

COSTELLO: So, John, why is Sharon making these moves at this particular time?

VAUSE: There's been a lot of pressure building on the Israeli prime minister over the last couple of months to act. There has been a lot of criticism of the Israeli policy in the West Bank coming from as high up as the Army chief of staff, saying that the policies of collective punishment, if you like, in the West Bank are only breeding hatred and terrorism.

There is also the issue of the economy. The economy is in deep, deep trouble, and having a massive military operation under way in the West Bank certainly isn't helping this country.

And there is also the issue of demographics. Many here in Israel fear that the day is near when the number of Arabs in both the occupied territories and in Israel combined will outnumber the Jewish population.

So, a number of concerns leading to this speech in just a few hours from now -- Carol.

COSTELLO: And, of course, we'll have more for you when that speech occurs. John Vause reporting live from Jerusalem this morning.

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