this is al jazeera. ♪ welcome to the news hour, i'm sammy in doha and the top stories, opposition fighters come under pressure as they are told a peace summit in switzerland has to go ahead. a start date is announced for a deal over iran's clear program. a market town reduced to ruins. we report from bentu in south sudan days after it was retaken

by government forces. i'm in london with the latest from europe including, accusations of war crimes and torture and could the conduct of brittish troops in iraq result in prosecuti in prosecutions at the international court. i will ask if this is the beginning of the end of italian op opra as austerity takes their toll. it will go ahead later this month, the message from top 11 who have been meeting in paris but it's still not clear whether the main opposition of the syrian national coalition will actually take part. that is at at the same time as opposition fighters coming under more pressure from the syrian military. jackie roland reports.

>> it was the last-ditch attempt to persuade the opposition to talk to the assad regime and they argue there can be no military victory. after three years of fighting in syria they say the only way ahead is a negotiated solution. . >> translator: we have renewed full support for the syrian national council at a time when the syrian people are facing major difficulties. following an extensive discussion we have unanimously adopted the text presenting our position on the crisis, on the direction in which the international community must follow and request the geneva two conference take place following the expected timetable. >> reporter: the syrian political opposition is fragmented as the arms opposition on the ground. one thing the different groups agree on is the demands that

bashir assad leaves the political scene. . >> translator: the most important aspect of the meeting is that we all say that assad family has no future in syria. >> reporter: the syrian opposition is under strong and conflicting pressures. the international partners say they should be in peace talks later this month but fighters on the ground reject any formula that could enable bashir assad to hold on to power. and so the meeting ended without a clear "yes" or "no" from the syrian national coalition. the americans and their partners want the geneva talks to take place in ten days. it's difficult to see how that would happen with an empty seat at the table. >> jackie is live from the french capitol. so still some issues to be sorted out, what happens next in this meeting, jackie? >> well, the important next

discussions will be held on monday when the russian foreign minister comes to paris, there are a couple of major points of disagreement looking ahead toward geneva to between the russians on one side and western powers on the other and the whole position of the syrian national coalition as we have heard there in my report, sammy, the refusal really of the opposition to countance them to stay in power and accusing them of preopposition to the talks and the russians have also accused the west of being obsessed with regime change and feel there should be no preconditions for the opposition to take part in the talks. the other major controversial part is iran, what part if any should it play in geneva two and saying the iranians have a key

role and one of the supports of the assad regime and a power and meaningful for them to take part. the americans, however, had put down various conditions, various conditions in which they wanted any iranian participation to take place. the iranians are not happy about having conditions dictated to them so at the moment at least iran's participation is looking unlikely. >> reporter: thank you and jackie there from paris. all right, what we are looking at right now is the residents of the u.s. ambassador to france. the reason we are looking at the pictures is they are getting ready to hear shortly we are told from the u.s. secretary of state john kerry and speaking along the counterpart and as soon as we get some words from those diplomates we will go back to the scene. meanwhile inside syria government forces are advancing on rebel positions on the outskirts of alepo city and opposition fighters could lose

the strategic district and that is an industrial area on the outskirts of aleppo and lies ten kilometers northeast of the city and a major transport hub with infrastructure links to turkey and if they fall, rebel supply lines from the north will be cutoff and we report. >> this is a rebel-controlled town northeast of the city and has come under constant bombardment and is on a cross road linking them to syria and it needs to wreck enrebels here if it wants to capture the area north of the capitol and making advances and they are bogged down in their own war in the opposition-controlled north. opposition say the hold is under threat. and this is a largely industrial area. it lies ten kilometers northeast of aleppo and it's a major

transport hub with links to turkey and if it falls rebel supply lines from the north will be cutoff. aleppo is divided and the regime tried many times to make advances in this region but they were always pushed back and now they may be able to reverse their losses since rebels have diverted their man power and resources to fight the al-qaeda link islamic is-lamic state. fighters and civilians have been killed according to the human rights and hundreds of others disappeared. the fighting in the north has brought greater fighting to syrians not receiving much assistance and u.n. is trying to get the war infactions with guarantees to reach battle zones

and besieged areas. >> given the number of opposition groups on the ground we are also talking to them. we have had guarantees from some of them that they will make sure that humanitarian workers are safe. we are looking for the same guarantees from government who said the same thing. >> reporter: millions of syrians are internally displaced. here in a damascus suburb people are struggling to survive. >> translator: i have two children and two kids should be in school but i can't afford it, it cost too much. sometimes i can find work but most days i don't. >> reporter: an end to their suffering may not come about any time soon. there is a military and political stalemate and now a power struggle among rebel groups that has only weakened the opposition. and i'm with al jazeera beirut. >> reporter: iran and six world powers have a deal announced in november, under the agreement

iran promise to limit the uranium enrichment and it starts january 20 and barack obama supports it and more work is needed for a more long-term solution. iran agreed to limit it to 5%. that is the grade commonly used to fuel new clear power reactors and halt production of the more sensitive 20% enriched uranium converted into weapons-grade material and tyran would curb it for six months and this has not happened in more than ten years and al jazeera patty is in washington d.c. for us. first of all, patty, what actually happened on january 20th, take us through the process? >> well, sammy the work begins as you mentioned the iranians agreed to stop enriching past

the 5% and 20% of enriched stockpiles are dismantled and open themselves up to increased infection by iaea. in response some sanctions lifted on the oil industry in iran and precious metal and gold industry. there is relief for the sanctions that have been put on auto repair parts and also the aviation industry and some of the money that has been held in overseas banks account belonged to iran will be returned. obama administration says this will be $6-$7 billion of relief working out an agreement and while they commonly talk about it being six months, the agreement technically says they have until next november. >> that is supposed to happen, what is the possibility congress could disrupt some of these plans? >> this has been fascinating. there is a huge fight happening behind the scenes in washington. we have senators saying they have a vast majority of enough senators willing to vote on increased sanctions on iran that would go into effect if there was any sign that iran had

violated this interim agreement. the white house is pushing hard to keep that from happening. they have been publically lobbying and talking behind the scenes and hard to tell what the vote count is because the senators are not coming out and saying they will vote for it. what the administration and obama administration is urging is saying if they pass sanctions the long-term deal negotiations will be put off and the u.s. will not impose additional sanctions during the six month to a year period. so they are talking behind the scenes. the president in the statement flat out said he would veto any bill from the senate and passed the house and behind the scenes they are saying they have enough votes to override the president and that is the big fight in washington over the next coming weeks. >> reporter: and we will keep our eyes on it and thanks so much patty. now the south sudan government says it's in full control of unity state after forces took over the capital capitol and

heavy fighting and thousands are still fleeing their homes into camps both inside south sudan and neighboring countries. and we have this report from bentu. >> we have been coming in and out of here since the year 2010 and it always has been a busy, bustling town, markets and businesses have been thriving. now the entire place has been decimated during the fighting and we told the division commander when the fighting started and defected from the army and joined forces to bashir and they were in control for quite sold time and recently government troops moved in and pushed them out. they think the rebels are hitting where there is still fighting going on right there. in the meantime thousands of people are displaced. civilians and soldiers have been killed. civilians ran away from the fighting are sleeping at the u.n. base and still too afraid to come back into the town.

>> reporter: now coming up, on the news hour, iraqi government troops fight al-qaeda linked groups in western providence and we have the latest. and they dropped out but are now getting back on track. we report on a different kind of school in bangladesh. in sport manchester city looked for the win to see them go to the top of the english league, those details coming up. ♪ tensions remain high in the central african republic with widespread looting in the capitol and 13 people have been killed in the city over the last two nights. and over the departure of former president michelle and quickly gave way to violence with sporadic attacks on shops and houses and mr. phillips reports.

>> fires are still smoldering, an armed mob came in the mosque in plain daylight, smashed it up, wounded several people and took whatever they wanted and promised to come back to ransack it a second time. the people who live here say they won't run away. >> translator: where would we go? we are staying here because we have no where else. this house is everything to us. we can't afford to build another one. we are from here. we are from the central african republic. >> reporter: around the corner christian youth destroy a car being driven by a general by the muslim led celica malitia and says it's not over yet. the people in the car managed to get away safely. you can see for yourself how the central african republic is caught in a vicious cycle of revenge, sectarian violence. for now it's these young men who

feel this and the christian antibalica malitia and some well armed, some relying on charms which they say can deflect bullets. but even in this bleak situation there are voices of sanity. like this person a muslim who runs a hospital in a christian neighborhood. last month the celica came into his hospital and murdered at least ten people. and he is afraid to come to work. . >> translator: being human is natural as i'm afraid. being a muslim could cause problems here. but i'm a health worker by profession, that is the job i chose. i help people in distress. >> reporter: the government hasn't paid him or his staff for months. the hospital only functions because of help from the aid groups save the children. it's guarded around the clock by

african peace keepers and pity the people of the country where the sick lie in fear of attack. baranaby phillips. >> reporter: two car bombs in iraq killed at least 13 people and injured more than 30 others and the first exploded in baghdad and nine people were killed. the second went off in a parked car in a suburb of the capitol. and four people died in that attack. meanwhile the iraqi prime minister said the military won't got in the city of fallujah and tribe also be given more time to expel al-qaeda-linked fighters and they are trying to get rid of them in the lombar providence and we explain why. >> reporter: it's almost three weeks since fighting broke out in the province, the government says the military is trying to root out fighters linked to al-qaeda known as the islamic

state of iraq and isil. the army is using a newly-obtained u.s.-made fire missiles and surveillance drones. the government also says that local tribal leaders and their fighters are engaged in the battle against what they call terrorists. but that is not how these fighters or the residents of ambar see it. after soldiers cleared an antigovernment protest site and arrested a sunni mp, tribal fighters took up arms to defend their areas. and the invading fighters were able to control parts of fallujah and tribal fighters managed to drive them out. the government says isil fighters are still present in fallujah but presidents and local tribes deny it. ambar was at the heart of the n insurgency and reverse the tide

against al-qaeda, the so called awakening councils. since the u.s. withdraw the soldiers in 2011 iraq's political power has crumbled. sunnis started antigovernment protest in six provinces accusing the government of prime minister of sectarianism and marginalizing. more seriously they said baghdad was using the army to target sunni, one reason why the people of fallujah refuse to allow the army to enter their areas. the government denies the accusation. but this crisis is not internal, it is linked to the war in neighboring syria, the islamic state of iraq and the controlled vast areas of terror between the border of iraq and syria which allows the movement. critics of prime minister says he is using the fight for political reasons to boost his image and target the opponents before general elections.

and he is waiting support from voters and also u.s. which is speeding up the process of selling more weapons and equipment to the iraqi regime. and washington is adamant that u.s. troops will not return to iraq. this is iraq's biggest crisis since u.s. forces left and could have serious consequences not only for iraq but for the region. i'm with al jazeera. >> reporter: hundreds of students have battled security forces at the cairo university and supporting egypt's president morsi and they threw fireworks at police and comes before 2 million people vote on a new constitution and drafted after morsi was deposed by a military coup last july and five journalists are detained without charge by authorities in egypts

and fahmy and mohamed and greste are accused of spreading lies harmful to state security and joining a terrorist group and al jazeera says it's fabricated nonsense and demanding release and the other ones is a reporter for al jazeera arabic and one from the egyptian affiliate and detained for five months now. a stream of israelis have been lining up to pay respects to former prime minister ariel sharon who died and he is lying in state in jerusalem and barred at his farm in israel on monday and tom ackerman reports. >> they brought sharon's coffin and the guards carried it in to the parliament main plaza and a small and steady stream of people filed past to pay their last respects and came from all walks of israeli life, from a cross section of the domestic political spectrum.

>> he was a hero and had courage. he had a great sense of humor. he leaves minute by minute and believes in himself. >> reporter: some said despite his image sharon took important steps in the direction of peace. >> to go out from gaza i think that was the beginning of the process that if he was alive israel would have been in a better place today and unfortunately god took him too early. >> reporter: near the separation wall that split parts of the city arab residents had a negative assessment of sharon's legacy. >> this is after the wall has been built, it's working only on 20% of its margin. it should be working five times what is working. >> reporter: on monday officials will be delivering their euology and biden and the british foreign minister will be

attending and sharon will be taken to his final resting place, a modest grave site by his wife in the family farm in the south of israel and tom ackerman in jerusalem. >> reporter: fighting between tribes in the libya city left at least 15 people dead. local officials say the death toll of the malitia chief on thursday prompted several days of running battles, and meanwhile the deputy was shot dead on saturday and he was the latest victim in a stream of high profile killings and the representative on the national council which took power after the revolution. fighting between political factions in bangladesh claimed three lives days after the election and three were killed in the latest violence by the university. there were reports of gunshots and explosions during a scuffle between the student wings of the opposition party and the ruling.

the victims were all opposition student activists. meanwhile prime minister has been sworn in during a ceremony in the capitol daca and 19 deputies and cabinet minister sworn into office. international observers called for new inclusive polls. now, one area where bangladesh is making progress is in education. more children are going to school than ever before, many of them drop out before completing studies, for 30 years a nonprofit school has been working to bring these drop-outs back to the classroom and keep them there. and we report. [chanting] they look like regular students attending a typical gym class but each of them is a success story. every child here is a former drop-out. today the students in the basic school systems, a network of

schools across bangladesh that fights the country's drop out prap -- program and 40% do not finish school and the morning who leads the exercise session was once one of them. >> translator: we used to live in daca and then he died and then we came to the village and had to stop school. two years later one of the teachers came and found me and convinced my mother to send me to the school. >> reporter: the special honor to get married but wants to finish her studies and the teachers know to keep students like her from dropping out again they need to offer more than other schools do. as a result the basic school system combines general education with vocational training. >> translator: the children who drop out of schools are from very poor families and don't have financial support to complete regular education consisting of regular classes. >> reporter: there is 500 of schools teaching more than

18,000 students across the country and the people learn not only general education like english and math but technical skills such as mushroom farmer and polltry and garment work and carpentry. the education they receive here is giving the children the confidence they need to defy rigid social conventions a carpentry student said she can do any job the boys can. >> translator: of course they will be social pressure on me. people will say look at this girl, she is doing men's work and maybe my parents will also think, oh, she is behaving like a man and tell me to stop but i'm not going to listen to them. >> reporter: despite making gains in the past 20 years bangladesh has a long way to go in educating all the children. the schools for drop outs are playing their part in helping the country do that. i'm with al jazeera in bangladesh. >> reporter: coming up, on the news hour, protesters in thailand threaten to shut down bangkok as they try to force the

government out. plus, i'm john in columbus, ohio, coming up, i'll show you a new museum that had the largest collection of comics and cartoons. in sport it is sweet for the defending champion ahead of the australian open. ♪ i'm phil tores. coming up this week on techknow. techknow's shini somara goes straight into the storm. winds of 150 miles per hour. but this twister is created in the lab. >> i'm at the national wind institute where they can actually recreate a tornado. >> now science and technology take on mother nature. >> who wins? >> it's completely fine. >> techknow. sunday 7:30 eastern on al jazeera america. that sometimes they have lost -- at times they have -- they

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>> seattle bureau... >> washington... >> detroit... >> chicago... >> nashville... >> los angeles... >> san francisco... >> al jazeera america, take a new look at news. ♪ welcome back, let's recap the headlines on al jazeera, the friends of syria group says peace talks planned later this month will go ahead and syrian opposition groups are still unable to confirm whether they will attend. iran and world powers will have a historic nuclear deal on january 20 and they promise to limit uranium enrichment. they are fighting al-qaeda linked fighters and these are pictures from fallujah and battling for supremacy and antigovernment protesters in

thailand are gained with the aim of shutting down the capitol and demonstrations are planned for monday and they will try and force the government from office before next month's elections. so far 8 people have been killed in process-related to the violence. and we are in the capitol of bangkok with the update. >> reporter: they are calling it bangkok shut down and thousands of antigovernment protesters like the ones you see around me are planning to paralyze the capitol city of thailand in order to throw out the government of prime minister. this stage itself is going to be shut down. it's been the base of protests for more than two months. but instead protests stage also be set up right around the city at major arteries and a big threat to business and traffic is expected to be terrible. the plan is to shut the city down for 15-20 days. now the government is putting in

place 40,000 troops and police to present law an order problems. this is supposed to secure the situation. it's not clear how far they will go to try to put the city back to normal. and at what point that might happen. the threat is that there could be violence on the streets of course. six people were injured on saturday when antigovernment protesters and progovernment protesters clashed outside bangkok and then in bangkok, not far away from here, 7 people were shot by unidentified gunman on motor bikes and antigovernment demonstrators so it has the potential to spirel out of control and there are efforts to revolve it and the government is considering putting in place an executive order to put together a reform committee to try and address the demand for reform these

protesters are making. there is also elections scheduled for this. the people here want to shut down bangkok are not willing to wait and want an unelected town in place. >> reporter: in afghanistan a suicide bomber killed at least two people and the attack in kabul targeted a bus killing cadets and wounding several more and the taliban told the local media it carried out the assault. afghan president karzai is long accused the united states of trying to push him out of office and he has one major voice backing his claim, the former u.s. secretary of defense, the revolution in robert gate's new book will further strain ties between the two countries and jane ferguson reports from kabul. >> it was an accusation often dismissed as paranoia.

>> and there were plans in washington and london to bring a change into the structure of governance of afghanistan and to go to the strong men they like in afghanistan and to put resources to afghanistan. >> reporter: now, ex -- excerpt says it's true and talks about president obama and holbrook and others extended support to karzai's challengers and the deputy spokesperson in kabul reacted with an i told you so. >> what secretary gates has revealed in his book further proves the riteousness of the

claims and to have the votes of the afghan people. >> reporter: karzai was also accused of foul play at the time. evidence of a campaign to rig the vote in his favor was widely reported. new allegations of interference by the obama administration could further discredit the election leading the afghan people unsure of who to trust. >> they don't believe anybody anymore. the people of afghanistan have been misled so many times with so many ways and so many players that sometimes they have lost, at times they don't have the self confidence that is sufficient for a nation to act on in their own interests and it's very dangerous that we have repleted a nation from its self confidence. >> reporter: revelations about possible u.s. interference in the last presidential elections here come just a few months before afghans go to the polls to vote for their next leader.

president karzai warned repeatedly against foreign manipulation. a warning which now seems to hold more weight. jane ferguson al jazeera, kabul afghanistan. >> reporter: now, could some of the most prominent faces of the british side of the iraq war appear officially accused of war crimes? not beyond the realms of possible the international court and our european news center will explain why. >> sammy, they have been formally asked to investigate war crimes outlined in a 250 page document that details allegations of beatings and marked executions and sexual assaults. and names jeff the former defense secretary, defense minister, ingram and the head of the british army. the document draws on the cases of more than 400 iraqis. and representing what it says are thousands of allegations of

miss treatment amounting to war crimes and torture and cruel and inhuman and degrading treatment and want it held under article 15 of the rome statute. the report is the work of the european center for constitutional human rights or the acc hr and a number of british human rights lawyer, one of them phil shiner has been speaking to al jazeera. >> we analyze over 400 cases of torture although there are now over a thousand of those cases. and we look in particular at the torture techniques that were part of the uk's interrogation and tackle question and a great deal of abuse and a great number of unlawful killings and a number of those are just people who go in british facilities

very much alive and within a few hours or a couple of days they are very much dead. >> and you stated that you believe that the abuse was systematic, whatever is there for that? >> there is massive material we analyzed that has been disclosed to us in various court proceedings and it all points to the top. it all shows very clearly that those at the top knew exactly what was being trained and knew exactly how those unlawful techniques which constitute torture and cruel and human and degrading treatment meant that inevitably in iraq hundreds and hundreds of iraqi civilians who were detained and then questioned or interrogated were subject to torture and unprizingly some of them did not survive. >> you are naming names and including civilian and military figures, can you tell us a bit

more about that? >> we are focusing on those at the top. it's not good enough for mod to pedal a new bad apples. it's not people just at the bottom on an fralic of their own and it's trained and sanctioned at the very top. the mod are misleading the public to put it mildly. there is nothing to show for ten, 11 years it's been since the first deaths in iraq which started in april 2003 and here we are, january 2014, the mod is simply not telling the truth. i suggest you go back to them and insist that they tell you the real facts, and you may ask them how many deaths in custody are they aware of? we found 11 besides this and they repeatedly refused to tell the courts how many they are aware of. perhaps they might answer that

question for you. >> reporter: in response on sunday the british administer of defense gave al jazeera this statement. these matters are either under thorough investigation or have been dealt with through various means including through the iraq historic allegations team, independent public inquiries the uk and european courts and in parliament. as such, further action through the icc is unnecessary when the issues and allegations are already known to the uk government, action is in hand and the uk courts have already issued judgments. should we be approached by the icc we will take the opportunity to explain the very extensive work underway to deal with the historic allegations of abuse. we reject the suggestion of a uk's armed forces who operate in line with domestic and international law has systematically tortured detainees and the uk government regrets the small number of cases where abuses have taken

place and wherever allegations have been substantiated we have compensated victims and their families. >> four people have been killed in a plane crash in germany and was approaching an air field in western germany when it clipped an electricity line. there was thick fog at the time. the long-time partner of the french president is reportedly being treated in hospital. according to french media he was having an affair with an actress. tens of thousands of people have an antigovernment protest in the center of kiev and the square is focus of demonstrations for more than 7 weeks now and protesters gathered hours after the decision to squeeze ties with the west. they say is it is not over until

the fat lady sings and is losing her voice and being hit by the financial crisis and we report from rome on whether the final curtain is falling on italy's oprahs. ♪ they are the heart and soul of the oprah and the chorus of the oprah but it's in trouble and owes around $50 million and can receive a bail out but only if they cut jobs. it's one of italy's most culture institutions, on par with the coliseum or any painting. it should be protected by the state and our constitution guarantees that. >> reporter: the financial crisis in italy is forcing the government to slash funding for the arts, the government has to

save billions of dollars in the next few years. and oprah houses are mostly state funded and they have no choice but to cut performances or in some cases close down. this is one of rome's oldest theatres, founded in 1727. the last official performance here was in 2011. campaigners are trying to raise enough money to keep this place open. the italian government spends more than a billion dollars a year on culture. much of the money goes to restoring ancient sights like the coliseum and the minister of culture insists oprah will survive the financial crisis. >> translator: they have to manage the administration more carefully so the tradition can survive many years. it's of course my duty above all to respect the profession of the people and i think it would be difficult to imagine a future

where culture is not the heart of things. ♪ in rome's oprah house a performance of swan lake and when muscinas went on strike last month it was replaced with a cd track and they are back and say the show must go on but it's not clear for how long and i'm with al jazeera rome. >> reporter: the catholic pope named the first batch of cardinals and chosen 19 men from across asia and africa and they are below 80 years of age and eligible to vote for successor and other three are excluded from the conclave as the honor posts. in europe let's go to sammy. we joined thousands of

spectators on sunday to watch the 2014 daca rally and fans of the off-road gas gathered on a mountain top near the argintinia border and it began last week and will end on chile on friday and will block vehicles from the salt flat and it was called off when the government announced it was sending in military and we have more from bolivia. >> reporter: it doesn't get more hostile or remote than this. 3, 650 meters above sea level and a long way from the nearest major human habitation, in a short time the 7th stage of the 2014 daca rally is going to pass along this way, hundreds of motorcycles and quads will be coming along here in a lot of smoke and dust and noise. there have been protests here.

people are saying -- we take you to france where the u.s. secretary of state and the foreigners are speaking. let's listen in. >> and now i'm meeting here with the follow on committee. i am particularly grateful to foreign minister al-atia for his leadership and for the work that he has been doing to try to keep this committee active and engaged in this important effort. and i also thank secretary general alarabee of the arab league for his commitment and for the depth of the conversation that we had today and i appreciate his willingness to convene people on short notice. but i think it's fair to say that this is one of the more important meetings that we have had because we are getting to a point where there is more

substance and a great deal more direction and therefore more to talk about. before i touch on the vital efforts we discussed here this afternoon, i want to command the very critical and significant step today taken towards reaching a verifiable resolution that will prevent iran from obtaining a nuclear weapon. this afternoon, this evening we have concluded the negotiations constructively and positively so that on january 20th, in just a few short days, we will begin implementation of the joint plan of action that we and our partners agreed to with respect to iran in geneva. as of that day, january 20th, for the first time in almost a decade, iran's nuclear program will not be able to advance.

in fact, parts of it will be rolled back. while we start negotiating, a comprehensive agreement to address the international community's concerns about iran's nuclear program. as the united states has made clear many times, our absolute top priority in these negotiations is preventing iran from obtaining a nuclear weapon, translated, making absolutely clear, beyond any doubt, that iran's program is a peaceful program. we have been clear all along, president obama initiated this effort with the belief that diplomacy is our preferred path because other options carry much greater costs and risks and are less likely to provide a lasting

solution. as this agreement takes effect we will be extraordinarily vigilant in our verification and monitoring of iran's actions. and that is an effort that will be led by the international atomic energy administration agency. while implementation of this joint plan of action is obviously an important step, we are very clear eyed about the even greater challenges that we face in negotiating the comprehensive agreement. we understand it's going to be a tough negotiation. and we are very clear about what will be required in order to be able to guaranty to the international community that this is a peaceful program. the negotiations will be very difficult. but they are the best chance that we have to be able to resolve this critical national

security issue peacefully and durably and we have an obligation to give diplomates and experts every opportunity to succeed. as you can see, the united states is engaged and leading on several fronts and we are working with our partners for a region that is more secure and more prosperous. there is a lot of very difficult work ahead. there is no question about that. but on each of these critical issues, i can tell you unequivocally the president and i are absolutely determined to lead and to succeed. our meeting here today was the fifth with the arab peace initiative follow-up committee and it is part of a regular process of a negotiation constitutions on the final

negotiation process between the israelis and the palestinians. this is a promise that i made to secretary general arby and chairman alatia when they asked to be kept appraised because the stakes in this are significant. they have been enormously helpful in the effort and i want to thank them for that. we have always known that peace is a very long and complicated and difficult road. but we remain committed to this process because we understand that the benefits of peace are dramatic and they are well worth fighting for. the arab peace initiative holds out the possibility, excuse me, the arab peace initiative holds out the possibility of normalizing relations with

israel and strengthening security for all of the countries throughout the region. i'm very grateful for the arab league for their willingness to help to build support for this effort. it's very hard to overstate the importance of cutter, audi arabia and egypt and jordan and iraq and kuwait and all countries taking part in this effort in order to bring the arab world to the table, saying a simple thing, we are prepared to make peace now in 2014. as i made clear in my discussions with the arab foreign ministers today, we really are at a critical point as palestinians and israeli leaders grapple with difficult and challenging decisions that lie ahead. through the course of the last five months, president abas and

prime minister netanyahu had courageous and determined leadership and made tough choices and they are contemplating even tougher choices in the weeks ahead. the arab foreign ministers made clear to me that they support israeli and palestinian leaders efforts to take the next bold, courageous steps of agreeing to a framework for a permanent status negotiations. the leaders here today understand what's at stake. and they remain committed to peace. not just between israel and palestinians but to the prospect of peace between israel and 57 nations. 35 muslim nations and 22 arab nations. that is the vision that summons us. that is the vision that guides

us. and we will need the continued support and engagement of the arab league in order to achieve it. let me also say a brief word about the london 11 ministerial today. we came together this morning and we are planning for a geneva to conference next week for a simple reason because there is no military solution to the violence that has displaced millions and taken more than 130,000 lives. there is no other alternative to ending this violence and saving the state of syria than to find a negotiated, peaceful outcome. the conference on january 22nd is the best opportunity to bring both the regime and the opposition to the table to begin a process of ending the syrian conflict through a negotiated transition and a full

implementation of the geneva communication. ultimately, it is the syrians themselves who will have to come to agreement on a political path to end the blood shed. and to chart a future that can be shared, not by one group or another, not by one sector or another, but by all of the people in syria. our job and the job of the london 11 is to support efforts to help get them there. my counterparts and i also discussed the humanitarian catastrophe in syria. there is an urgent need for the syrian regime to implement its obligations under the u.n. security council presidential statement. there is an urgent need for the assad regime to deliver on the humanitarian assistance that is necessary to the people of

syria. and that includes the damascus suburb of east buda whose 160,000 citizens are effectively being held hostage by regime forces. let me make clear that last year the deputy foreign minister said in new york that syria would allow any access anywhere at any time. well, the citizens of guda are still waiting, almost a year now, they have been denied access to any of that humanitarian assistance and that is absolutely unacceptable. we believe that it is possible for the regime to put in place before geneva a cease fire, local cease fires if necessary, a cease fire with respect to aleppo and send a signal that they are prepared to set a different mood, a different climate, a different stage for

the possibility of success in geneva. they have the power to do that. and the opposition has pledged that if they will do that, the opposition will live by it. in addition to that, they have said that they are prepared to provide for the possibility of prisoner exchanges. and they are preparing for that possibility in the event that the regime would take the steps in order to engage in that kind of humanitarian gesture. the disregard for the most basic human rights, whether through aerial bombing, barrel bombs, targeted against civilians, starvation of syrian men, women and children is a barbaric act and it's just as barbaric as it is lethal and it is unacceptable by any standard. the pictures and the dramatic demonstrations of what has

happened to young children and to men and women about the practices that have been engaged in are abhorret and a challenge to every person on the planet and important for all of us to begin to call greater attention to the level of violence that we are trying to prevent. the international community has to be diligent in drawing much more attention to the horrible cost of this conflict and we need to put the necessary pressure to bring an end to it. that's why the foreign minister and i are here. that is why our counterparts from the london 11 are here. and that's why we will continue pressing for a diplomatic solution with all of our international partners. we will press forward with the syrian coalition leadership, with the joint special representative brahimi and with

the russians as we prepare to go to montra on january 22nd. tomorrow i will be meeting with foreign minister lograth and meet against with jarba and the syrian opposition and i will meet with special u.n. brahimi as we engage in further discussions about how we can change this dynamic and begin the process of building for geneva two. none of us have an expectation, no one should write cynically about geneva two, somehow failing if it doesn't come up on day one or day two or day three with a full agreement. we don't expect that. what we do expect is to begin to get the parties at the table, convened and negotiating and beginning a process of waging even stronger effort to provide for this political solution.

it will take a little bit of time. but i'm confidence that it needs that forum, it needs all the players at the table, it needs the umbrella of the u.n. and it needs the good faith of people coming to that table in order to begin to focus the world on the way forward to prevent this catastrophe from growing even worse and that is what we are engaged in and that is what we are determined to try to achieve. mr. minister, thank you. >> thank you, john. allow me to welcome the results that we have achieved today in the transition agreement with iran concerning its nuclear program. we hope that this would be a first step to making the middle east region free of weapons of

mass destruction. today the committee for the follow-up committee of the arab peace initiative has had it's first meeting to discuss the person in issue and i would like to thank my friend kerry for his efforts with respect to the peace process and ending the conflict. he has -- john responded to several or addressed several of our concerns and questions on the part of the foreign ministers and members of the committee. i would also like to take the opportunity to also say to the excellence president and president hanei for achieving imitation of the doha agreement and reaching reconciliation. we have als