it should, the facebook demographics are aging, and many are gravitating to photo based snap chat. check out the website at aljazeera.com. ♪ ♪ on "america tonight." a cruel death. our in-depth look at crime and punishment considers the executioner's cocktail. at state's seek new methods to admiadminister the ultimate pen. >> when you strap somebody for a board and di deprive them of oxn as they slowly die in front of their family. it would take a good imagination to comp with a more brutal form of execution than that. also tonight, end of the lionel. the fight over externalling the keystone pipeline reaches deep in to a texas town, where

neighbors say enough already. >> i say to a person who would tell me to move, when do we stop moving? when do we stop and turn and fight? these industries are cropping up all over the country ricker all over the world. and the blurred and infieldsing lines of the enduring conflict in the middle east. a story that reminds us of how ill lose he have peace remains. ♪ ♪ good evening and, thanks for being with us, i am joey chen. for many environmental activists something of a line in the sands. the keystone excel would ease of flow of earl down to refineries along the u.s. gulf coast and the pipeline got a boost last

week when the state department released a huge and ultimately neutral report about its potential environmental impact. but at the southern stopping point, the final destination of the pipeline extension, "america tonight" correspondent sarah hoye found the debate is not about future risks but over the damage already done. >> i lost my sistene when he was 17. my mother was 50 and we lost her back in 2009. and my grandmother we lost in 2010. >> cause of death, cancer. >> is there a history of cancer in your family? >> no. all three of these situations, these three losses were a total shock to the whole family. we have a good history of high blood pressure, but as far as cancer, no. >> former navy officer, he was born and raised in port arthur, texas.

the small sleepy city two hours east of houston, is surrounded by one of the largest concentrations of oil refineries in north america. here in the city by the sea, a labyrinth of pipelines defines the skyline. complete with the steady stream of smoke and sulfur-tinged air. it's also here that hundreds of thousands of barrels of crude oil are converted in to everything from cass lean to asphalt. to the petrochemicals needed to make plastics. but residents say living in port arthur is making them six. growing up across the fence line from eight major refineries and waste plans and he says his family has paid the price. >> when you think about that, like you said, your sister, mother, grandmother and you live here in port arthur within view of all these refineries. in your heart of hearts do you think it's connected? >> i think so. i really feel like -- i really

feel like a lot of people in port arthur, including my family members that i lost, probably the affects on their health has something to do with these refineries in this area. a lot of people probably walking around here sick and don't even know that they are sick or they might have something ill fated developing inside of them and don't know it because we are exposed to these chemicals every day. >> according to the texas department of health, the cancer rate in jefferson county, which is including port arthur, is significantly higher than in the rest of the state. almost 8% higher for men, and 6% for women. there is no way to know for sure, if the family members died as a result of poe luke, bu pole says he doesn't need to see anymore evidence. his mother's death hit him hardest. >> that image i still got in my head like me talking about it now like she was laying there and they had -- her mouth was open and they had a tube down her throat and her eyes was wide open and they were giving her charges to her chest.

and it -- it was like a surreal feeling. the cancer just took completely over. to lose my mother, my sister and grandmother like that, it just messed me up completely. >> we are being expose today emissions like benzine, 13 butte dine which are all cancer-causing chemicals. >> activist hill toon kelley hie returned to his hometown almost a decade ago to help his community which he says is steeped in toxic fuels. >> i remember standing out here when i was a kid. we used to smell the silver, the stinky rotten-egg odors and the strange chemicals and i grew up thinking that was the norm. >> kelly has become an advocate for the largely african american community. >> we have a disproportionality number of people in this community with cancer to show that and people on dialysis at this present tim. we have a disproportionate number of kids with rest fore i problems, bronchitis, asthma,

skin disorders, yo you name it. >> all five of her children suffer from respiratory problems. >> the kids all have bronchitis and allergies and when i take them to the doctor, they said mainly it's because we are close to the refinery. we are like two, maybe three blocks down the street. so when they release us, we are more exposed to it than anybody else. so they have to take the butte roll three times a day and allergy medicine at night. >> how do you feel about living here? >> i was born and raised here, i am concerned and then i am not. i am concerned for my kids' sake, because the medications that they have to take because of the refineries, so like maybe in the future i plan to move. >> are you kind of used to the smell? used to the sounds, used to the noises coming from the refinery? >> honestly, yes. like when i come outside, and i hear the bell, i be like, oh, they released something. and i go in the house and close the door back.

>> she lives within sight of the sprawling refinery. last year the facility nearly doubled its production of oil to 600,000-barrels a day. making it the largest refinery in the united states. when kelly returned to port arthur in 2000, he started his own organization dedicated to improving air quality in the city. his soul food restaurant doubles as a makeshift office. from here he lobbied the environmental protection agency and got their attention. port arthur was already on the agency's watch list for unsafe levels of benzine in the air, a known carcinogen. the epa responded to the community's concerns over their proximity to refineries and selected it as a community in need of help. >> there is a problem. and that's why we were selected only 10 communities throughout the whole united states were selected as an epa showcase community project in 2010. >> the epa invested $100,000 in

a partnership with the community, local government and refineries to improve the environment. >> we are disproportionately being bomb boarded by these tox it's waste plants. the low income african american community in west port arthur. we are being disproportionatesly dumped on and disproportionately a tacked by these toxic fuels. >> kelly joined forces with a doctor, the environmental epidemiologist to study the effect the refineries are having on residents in pour arthur. although she did find a higher level of asthma there, she said it's difficult to prove it's directly re related to the environment. but she says there is reason for concern. >> i believe it's possible that every single components in that complex can be in compliance with air quality emissions, but collectively if you live in the

midst of that, then it may not be safe. >> oil was first discovered in texas at the spindle top oil field near port arthur at the turn of the century. the petrochemical industry was what built the state of texas which is why texas is still the powerhouse economically that it is. and it really is rooted in this industry in this region. >> by 1923, port arthur was home to the large he felt oil refinery complex in the world. the city was bustling. but the historian says the people that made their money off the oil business no longer live here. >> what is different today is that a lot of the old money that was here at the time spindle top that was here in the '20s, proximate tour street was movie theaters and department stores, and very fancy expensive hotels and now because of technology, many of the people that work in the high positions in the

petroleum industry don't have to live here in order to do their jobs. >> these days downtown port arthur is a ghost of its former self. the unemployment rate is nearly 16%. more than twice the national average. the signs of economic depression are everywhere. but residents say the town is worth saving. >> port arthur is not a bad place. it's not a bad place to grow up. it's not a bad place actually to live. you know, i love port arthur, i do. i want people to know that this area is -- it's a good community, port arthur is a nice -- it's a small town, actually raise your family in. but at the same time, be aware, you know, the oil refinery, chemical companies around here, we basically are surrounded. >> we contacted two of the largest refineries, neat neither

would agree to an on-camera interview but we got a statement from an industry association that said, in part, air emissions have decreased by 56% over the past 15 years and emissions are down by over 90%. the statement went onto say, that industry had invested hundreds of millions of dollars in air emissions control projects. the epa's inter percent spurred by local activists like kelly, has made a difference here. agency officials told "america tonight," preliminary data from last year indicated air quality in the city now meets their standards. the industry group said companies had invested several million dollars in the community in the last year. including building a new health center for areas residents. >> i am hopeful through this knew sort of communication between the grassroots organization and industry and local government, this new communication link that has been forge the betweeforged between l it can be used to where we can

somehow sit down and agree to a plan to help better protect this community. >> port arthur has a long way to go. kelly says stronger measures need to be taken. in a community in the shadow of one of the world's largest refinery complexes. but he's staying put. >> well, i say to a person who would tell me to move, when do we stop moving? when do we stop and turn and fight? these industries are cropping up all over the country. all over the world. so what we are saying to the industry is this, do your job, but do it responsibly. >> following up now on the situation in port arthur, correspondent sarah hoye joins uus here. they seem quite willing to stand up and fight do they have a chance? >> they are small successes along the way, hilton kelly who you heard from there, they are doing little things, the epa is involved. studies are happening, more people are looking in to this. there is a housing development that was near the refineries

that has since closed down. the same one that hilton kelly was born n the industry officials locals say, his ends building was dilapidated that's why we closed it down. but others like hilton will say listen, the refineries also had something to do with that. >> you were down there yourself, spent a few days down there. it talk to us about what it was like. is this something that you could notice right way as an outsider? >> absolutely. the second we got out of the car you could smell the sulfur smell, they refer to it as the rotten-egg smell. i had each-y eyes, watery eyes and a identical in my throat. you thought maybe it was a cold. but after being there a week, you had headaches and things like that. it's hard to ignore when you have all that vapor coming out. so was it just a cold or was it actually port arthur? >> right. >> and do we know who the long-term health effects are. thanks very much. sarah howe our "america tonight" i don'"america tonight"correspo. >> do the economics outweigh the

risk. joining u publishing articles drilling in particular. it comes down to a dollars and cents question and sometimes it's hard to put a price on certain things, but give us some understanding. do we know that the efficiencies actually are enough of a cost savings that the pipeline would be more valuable than continuing to move oil by, say, rail? >> you have really hit at what i think is the key question that we really need to be asking here. at the moment, i mean, the state of research is probably a bit too premature to answer that question definitively. but i think that we can talk about what the trade offs really are. and it's interesting, if you had interviewed me about this three years ago nobody was talking about moving crude by rail. it was too expensive. it's changed in the past couple

of years now hundreds of thousands of barrels a day are being shipped out of the north dakota and canada to points all throughout the united states by rail. it's cheaper and not as cheap as a pipeline and you little the value of sending crude through eye pipeline is still there in a difference of transportation cost. the role is very different than it was a few years ago. >> but that sort of understand scores a point. there are consequences that you can't see in the time line that we are looking at. there are the myths and realities in reporting about these kind of issues. what are some of the myths you see. >> some of the myths i see, particularly on sort of the economic side relate to the effects of keystone on oil prices or on u.s. gas line prices. you hear people talking about these things all the time. a couple of sort of basic issues with the myths are, one, you

build at keystone pipeline, the rated capacity is supposed to be about 700,000-barrels a day. in the context of the worlds oil market, where oil prices are really set, we were talking 80 to 90 million-barrels a day. 700,000 boyerals isn't going to change the world price of oil that much. it will not have a dramatic effect of reducing road oil prices. so that sort of one thing to discount. when you think about what's going to happen with gasoline prices, it's actually an interesting thing because people who support the pipeline say it's going to decrease gasoline prices, people who are against the pipeline say it's going to increase gasoline prices. and neither claim really has a lot of player it's. maybe there will be a slight change but nothing noticeable. gas line prices fall because the oil price isn't really falling. nor is there really a worry about gasoline prices going up. some people say you build the pop line, this makes more oil more valuable in the middle of the country, it will increase the price of oil and then

increase the price of gas. and that's just not how gasoline prices are set. those are set on a world market too. >> right, yeah. and it's something that we do see overtime ebbing and flowing as it were. we appreciate your being with us, university of michigan economics professor ryan kellogg. thanks very much. coming up, we continue our in-depth look at crime and punishment. with a focus on death drugs. and execution using untested drugs or raises new questions about the limits of the ultimate penalty. looking ahead to next time on "america tonight," we return to haiti, in an almost unbelievable story of generosity and compassion. last summer special correspondent soledad o'brien visited haiti for a report on the country's struggles since the earthquake. she met a school teacher who lost his school in the aftermath. now the only classroom for him and his students is a crowded tent. >> with help from his mother mackenzie managed to build a

school here with 700 children. >> in english. >> mackenzie's school survived the earthquake, but the no the aftermath. mackenzie says he needs just $9,000 u.s. to build a new school. just $9,000 of the billions pledged to nongovernment the organizations. wednesday on "america tonight," we'll show you how one of our viewers is making a difference. ♪ ♪

♪ ♪ tonight we continue our in-depth look at crime and punishment with a focus on death drugs. the drugs used in executions. we have reported extensively about the challenges that prison authority face with a shortage of some key drug stocks in the search for alternatives, executioners have turned to the controversial compounding pharmacies. and to some untested drug alternatives. but there is already been fierce

blow back. and legal challenges as well. one execution scheduled for this wednesday has been delayed so a court can decide whether it is unconstitutional to put that inmate to death using a secretly-acquired drug cocktail. "america tonight's" chris on the final punishment and whether it is too cruel of a way to die. >> reporter: christopher has been on death row in louisiana for 20 years. for the 1992 killing of his six-year-old stepson. louisiana could not acquire the drugs typically used in executions so his lawyer argued the state planned to experiment on the 70-year-old condemned man. >> we believe there is going to be a serious risk that there will be pain and suffering that's unavoidable. that will be inflicted upon him and it shouldn't be. >> reporter: pain and suffering, is what the family of condemned prisoner dennis mcgwire claims

he endured during his execution in ohio last month. mcgwire was convicted in 1994 for the rape and murder i've pregnant newlywed. the prison system had run out of lethal injection drugs so ohio turned to a new combination, the sedative, and the painkiller hydro moore phone. drugs that no state had ever used before. in an exclusive interview with "america tonight," mcgwire's son he his father feared what might happen with the new lethal cocktail. >> he had a feeling something was going to be wrong the doctors had told him something was going to happen. and he had a feeling, he had a gut feeling that something was going to go wrong during the execution. >> reporter: that gut feeling turned out to be a valid premonition. >> we didn't expect to see what we say. expected it to look like he just went to sleep. that's what we expected.

>> i have seen about 18 others and this one defer the dramatically from any of those others. >> reporter: columbus dispatch reporter alan johnson one of the witnesses said he had never seen an execution anything like it. >> this was thiago one was different because after three to four minutes, dennis mcgwire began gasping for breath, his stomach and chest were compressing, deeply, he was making a snorting sound, almost choking sound at times. and i didn't notice it at first, but his left hand, which had been waving at his kids had clenched in to a fist. >> when he made the first noisy looked down at my watch and noticed that the time was about 10:31, 10:32 a.m. i had difficulty seeing the exact time because i was crying at the time. >> reporter: mcgwire's son read from an affidavit about exactly what he saw in the death chamber. >> after making the first noise, my ma fabricio they are den

tried to lift himself off the table by arching his back and pushing his head and wrists against the gurney. >> so this went on for a very difficult 10 minutes. as he was gasping for breath, making these guttural sounds, kind of straining up against the restrains, which hold him down at his chest and his legs and his arms, obviously couldn't get up, but he appeared to be trying to get up or at least raise up in some fashion. >> he then made a noise that sounded like he was fighting for air and grunting at the same time. it was extremely loud. while this was happening, the warden and the guard in the white shirt had horrified looks on their faces. and appeared that they were in shock at the way that it was happening. >> reporter: prison guards later said mcgwire told them one of his lawyers had asked him to put on a big show, but that he refused.

a claim that ohio officials could not substantiate. now mcgwire's family is filing a lawsuit to stop ohio from using the drug combination that killed him. arguing that it amounts to cruel and unusual punishment. >> when you strap somebody to a board, deprive them of oxygen for 25 minutes, as they slowly die in front of their family, it would take a good imagination to come up with a more brutal form of execution than that. the. >> reporter: and mcgwire's son says ohio used his father as a test subject for an experimental drug combination. >> i believe that my dad shouldn't have been an experiment. i believe that they shouldn't have experimented with anybody let alone my father. >> reporter: states such as ohio and louisiana are having trouble finding lethal injection drugs is no accident. major pharmaceutical companies have stopped shipping them to american prisons.

they buckled under pressure death penalty opponents including the group reprieve based in bon don. >> it's a prop for them. it's a massive ethical problem. it's also a p.r. problem. it's also a commercial problem for them. >> reporter: so state prisons started acquiring the drugs in secret sometimes overseas. in 2012, nebraska was preparing to execute michael ryan for a double murder. but the prison had difficulty securing at this key drug, sodium thigh owe pen toll. >> reporter: here at the nebraska state penitentiary prison officials were up able to acquire that lethal injection drug for the state's first scheduled execution after abolishing the electric chair. prison's chief pharmacist tells us that she was order today obtain it from outside the country which means to t* would have been a violation of fda rules pharmacist diane booker who left her job in 2011 asked us not to show her face.

what exactly did your boss asked you to do? >> to acquire it by any mean possible. >> by that you took that to me? >> outside of the you had. any that would sale it to us. >> reporter: because it was not legal here. >> they had stopped manufacturing yes. >> reporter: what was your response some. >> even if you can get it it's not fda proved. you couldn't use it for an execution. >> reporter: booker says her boss ignored her objections and obtain the the drug from a foreign broker. nebraska officials would not comment. but now more states are turn to go specialized companies called compounding pharmacies. in louisiana, the attorney for condemned killer christopher, said prison officials refuse today reveal exactly where they are getting their lethal drugs. >> the secrecy allows them to -- it just sort of cofferin cough , draw a curtain and says you don't need to look over here, it's not important, move on. and we are saying, no, it's not

that simple. and that we need to see because we are killing somebody in the name of the state of louisiana and all of the citizens. >> reporter: advocates of the death penalty say opponents are playing political games by focusing on lethal injection drugs. >> it's mainly a political issue. people are putting pressure on the compounding pharmacies not to supply the drugs even though there is no really good reason for them not to. it's just a matter of people who don't agree with the law looking for ways to obstruct its enforcement. >> reporter: but ohio's 25 minute-long execution of dennis mcgwire, with drugs never before tried for that purpose, should be reason enough to prevent more executions like it, according to the lawsuit his family is bringing. >> no other family ever goes through what we went through. no other family in the united states deals with what we had to deal with, what we had to witness. >> reporter: in january, louisiana prison officials

revealed a new execution protocol after acknowledging they could not get pen toe bash toll, the lethal drug louisiana has used before. toes they added the option of the same that killed dennis mcgwire in ohio. and in a statement correction officials said it is common for the department's two pharmacy to his carry the drugs listed in the revised execution protocol. they have sufficient supplies of both drugs to carry out the execution. it gives his lawyers 90 days to prove that ohio's bungled, cushion is evidence that lethal injection too can be cruel and unusual punishment. chris, al jazerra. >> our next guest witnesses an execution about every three weeks. michael is a journalist for the associated press in texas and he

joins us tonight. i appreciate your being with us, mike. can you talk about what you have heard about the ohio situation that was not one that you witnessed yourself. but in context from what you know, was it quite unusual, untypical, atypical to what you have seen? >> it was not like the ones that i have seen here in texas. the ones here in texas, for the most part, have been pretty uneventful, where the inmate takes a few deep breaths, perhaps a snore, the snores get progressively less and then there is no movement and that's pretty much it. and then in a few instances she, or he has pretty much gone to sleep and just don't wake up. >> so in texas, you also must see that the prison authorities face the same challenges as other states have with shortages of particular drugs. how has that been handled there?

>> they had some difficulty locating pent bash toll the last round and have obtained it and purchased it from a compounding pharmacy in texas. that supply is only good until april of this year, so they have to go out and search for another supply once that supply is exhausted and expires by date. >> there has been controversy around the compounding pharmacies and how their procedures might differ from more established organizations or organizations established more traditional ways is that a problem in the youth of the death penalty in texas? >> it hasn't appeared to be. there is no noticeable change in the reaction of the inmate from the pentobarbital obtained from the usual commercial sources versus the supply that's come from the compounding pharmacy. i think the biggest impediment that the compounding farm is a in this case, in the case here

in texas, was inundated with phone calls from anti-death penalty folks and they also showed up at one point and demonstrated outside the place. i than that has inhibited their desire to participate again, but we won't know until the current supply was exhausted. >> we only have a few second here but i want to get to the idea that you have seen so many executions. does it change for you? is the experience more difficult for you overtime as a person, as a person who has witnessed so many executions? >> it's part of my job. it's not the only thing i do. but it's part of the job. you are there to tell a story. you are there to report. it's not unlike other reporters who show up at homicide scenes or murder scenes or disasters, explosions, those of us who are reporters have zeina lot of those kinds of events just so

happened that what i do and show up in my prison coverage there is someone that dies. >> associated press reporter in texas, michael, thanks very much for being with us. >> thank you. wednesday on "america tonight" we are going to continue our in-depth crime and punishment series with a look at new york city's controversial police tactic called stop and frisk. the newly elected mayor bill duh plays yo says it targets young men of cover, "america tonight" sarah hoye examinals how the city plans to over call the program, coming up went on "america tonight." and you can explore more about the ways america polices, prosecutes and punishes its own at our website where we probe more of what is and isn't working in the u.s. justice system. when we return, the sudden

wave of haren deaths and why smack is taking ahold of more americans. was not criminal at all. now is evidence is that

♪ ♪ now a snapshot of stories making headlines on "america tonight." russian president vladimir putin arrived in sochi on tuesday, three days ahead of the start of the winter olympics. security concerns have heightened there since the austrian olympic committee received a letter threatening two of their female athletes. a rescue of children from a sex trafficking ring aimed at super bowl sunday. the fbi says that 16 children ages 13 to 17 were forced in to prostitution. agents led a two-week crack down on sex trafficking around new york city ahead of the super bowl. a senate panel is looking for ways to strengthen chemical storage infection after last month's spill in befor west vir. the testimony tuesday would set minimum stun cards for storage, leak detection and emergency response plans. the ban on tap water was lifted

january 18th but they are still advising pregnant women not to use it. following up on reporting last night about a shocking wave of heroine overdoses and the death of oscar winning actor firm see more hoff mon, don we learn there is more to it. the wave wave of deaths in pittsburgh, baltimore, even rhode island seeing a recent surge in fatal heroine overdoses we learned from the centers for disease control it turns out painkillers are more likely to kill than heroine. but it is still the number one killer among illegal drugs. and so why is heroine use becoming more common? even in suburban communities, in part it is a supply and demands issue, opium poppy production doubled last year in afghanistan, it's a prime producer as a result prices on the street are down. this stepped up ice of a synthetic ope open yacht.

it's used by end-stage cancer patients, 100 times strong are than morphine so strong an amount stronger than a grain of salt is enough to sedate a patient for hours of surgery. it has been on the streets before with heroine, dr. gregory smith a former anesthesiologists and current president of the comprehensive pain relief group joins us tonight. talk to us about this 20 nil it has a legit use for people in a great deal of pain. but it's adding to the incredible danger of heroine already. >> very true, ten tent nil has n around a long time. i encountered it when i was a residents. it's used in the operating room to put people to sleep and also for pain and also used for chronic pain and cancer pain in the form of patches and believe

it or not, fentanyl lollipops. but it is a very potent drug as you said about 100 times stronger than morphine. and interestingly, because it's dissolves in fat it gets across what we call the blood-brain aware year very fast and makes it really deadly and stops people from breathing. >> we have heard so much about crack and use of things like sudafed in the development of drugs. is this that sort of a situation? how would the dealers get fentanyl in to their heroine to begin with? >> yeah, that's a great question. really, you have these labs, these sort of makeshift labs that get started and they make this stuff in these boot leg labs similar to the way methamphetamine is made and often what is happening because it's cheaply made this way you can cut heroine with it. instead of cutting it with things that aren't necessarily dangerous.

when it's cut with fentanyl, you can only imagine that the person injecting it or snorting it or smoking it is get an an enormous dose that they don't pictures to get. >> i guess part of this really is a, as we referred to earlier supply and demand situation. and a price point situation. heroine turns out to be not a very expensive high. >> very true. in fact, with the precipitation drug epidemic, which has gotten very expensive, heroine has become more affordable. and when you cut heroine with certain things it becomes even more affordable. but the problem is the end user does not necessarily know what is inside that little packet of heroine, again, when they inject it or snort it and it's very similar if you imagine if you were adding salt to a recipe, it's the same amount the salt that you normally see, but the salt is 100 times stronger, imagine how bad your recipe comes out. but here, we have a recipe literally for death when people inject this medication.

>> do user understand this? i read one report from somebody who was taken after an o.d. taken to a clinic and he said, look, my dealer told me this stuff was extra strong, not to even take all that i purchased from him. i am struck by that. someone would say, i knew this stuff was really strong, so that's why i bought it. >> yeah, well, again, your drug deal sport dealer is not a physy do often know what it's in and know it's stronger, one thing is when an addict or somebody abusing a substance is under the influence of the substance, they are not thinking straight. so what you have is people trying to feel better, trying to avoid having -- trying to avoid being dope sick or get a high, so often that advice to use less goes out the window and if a person is alone they can take this overdose and simply just stop breathing and die. >> truly tragic, dr. gregory

smith, thanks so much if being with us. >> thank you. after a break, an old story, but opportunity for new hope, the push and pull of mideast politics. and whether this time american diplomats can make a different.

♪ ♪ once again, american diplomats are trying to finesse a path to middle east peace, second of state john car kerry n full dress president to coke both sides in to what would be at best a first step. a framework that could ultimately lead to a larger more comprehensive settlement. but as if to under score how

rocky the long path ahead might be, nick schifrin visited a town where old hatreds and repeated argument can spark dangerous, new and even more destabilizing violence. >> reporter: in the palestinian village, olive trees that he calls holy are all destroyed. >> this has been attacked by [inaudible], you see? >> reporter: just a identify minute feet away in the illegal israeli outpost, this field used to have hundreds of olive industries. he shows me the only one left. >> this tree here, is probably one of the last ones that the tractor missed. >> reporter: this is the frontline of the israeli pal still vinnie conflict. israeli settlers considered ultra nationalists build communities of guard to youers and prefabricated homes perched on the high ground and plant huge fields next to israeliville

villages. so it uprooted the settlers trees, but instead of responding against their own army, the settlers attacked palestinians. they ran through their town and brought metal pipes an pipes and his head. the palestinians fought back, the settlers ended up with bloody faces, one was knocked unconscious. eventually out numbered, they surrendered in an abandoned house. soldiers arrived to take them away. tension was high. so he helped shield the settlers from a crowd that was calling for revenge. >> our islam is saying that when you are in a battle and your enemy is moving his hand up, you are not allowed to kill him. but if he returns back another time, you can kill him. >> reporter: those fighting words show just how tense this area is. the villagers say at the timallers have attacked 20 a times in the last two and a half

years. >> on this side, that's the 358 skip general village. >> yes. >> reporter: over that hill that's the outpost. >> yeah. >> reporter: and right in between? >> the soldiers. israeli soldiers. they are saying that they are there just to prevent attacks from the settlers on the palestinian pardo farmers. >> reporter: do they prevent the attacks? >> no, they didn't. >> reporter: across the west bank attacks by jewish settlers on palestinians are increases since 2006, the u.n. says they have tripped. yesterday they burned this mosque. the army says it will physically impede settlers from more attacks, but the palestinians don't believe them. >> we don't have the power to push them way. to keep them from our land. just we have faith. >> reporter: aaron feelings he's battling his own government and the palestinians. he provided this video of palestinians attacking the fields. is really troops defend the

settlers, and so the settlers feel that they can stay even if they are their outpost is illegal. so bottom line is neither side is going anywhere. >> they want us to leave, to leave this area. they want to take the land. they want to destroy our lives also. >> just finally got back after 2,000 years, we are back home, we are here to stay. >> we are staying. it's our land, we are not leaving. >> reporter: the settlers attacks are likely to continue. the group that attacks the village was detained and shackled in court to discourage few air tacks and continue investigating police wanted to keep them in custody but a judge released them to house arrest. >> the police made too many mistakes ther there to arrest ad investigated the attack brutally the suspects. >> reporter: so the tension continues. he vows to replant. and is teaching his son. aaron plans to double the number of trees. he's already taught his son to love this field.

>> you like planting trees? >> yes. >> reporter: and so you until there is peace, their children will fight over the same land. nick schifrin, al jazerra, in the occupied west bank. >> aaron david miller is a former state department official, a vice president of new initiatives at the wilson international center for scholars and he joins us here now, you know, you have been at the elbow of many secretaries of state advising them on the middle east policy. let talk about where we are right now. and i feel like we have been here a million times, but let's talk again about where we are. how far in the process is it a framework on the horizon. >> first you have to start with kerry himself i call him the energizer bunny of american foreign policy. >> close toy dozen visits. >> he's been relentless. the bad news is there is no real own irrelevant shall. if therownership. if there were no john kerry there would be no negotiations. the downside if you get an agreement both sides have to own it. the core question will be

answered in the days and weeks ahead is whether or not benjamin net an yeah hoo and abbas own this process. carey the driving force behind american policy is trying to create an agreement on a framework. not even a framework agreement. >> an agreement for get to a framework. >> right. which will -- >> presumably. >> facilitate the negotiation that his will have to follow in order to get to the point where you reach an agreement that can actually be implemented. because right now we are living in a paper world, a paper world of words, documents negotiations and negotiators to move from that paper world to the real world, the world on the ground. >> is part of the question about urgency a place in where is the u.s. administration? at the administration at the top level at the president's level himself, how much of they invested in right now, this moment? >> they are not. and that's actually quite

correct on their part. this president is now facing the last three years of his administration. he's only one of 17 american presidents to be reelect today a second term. and, look, the reality is he cares more about the middle class than the middle east. and the fact is, he's right. what he wants to avoid, is the prospects of american military action. either in syria or to stop an iranian bomb. this suggests to me, that barack obama will get involved in the process if john kerry brings it to the point where, in fact, the president's interception can actually lead to an agreement. there is no point in fighting with the tal spi pal tin generae israelis if the fight is unproductive. >> at this point it's the interests around the region rather than the israel question itself? >> right. for the president it's iran number one.

for kerry right now it's this issue you. this issue you not only will further the national interest. if it you can seeds he will get not hall of fame. >> this is the middle east. >> that's it. >> that's the tough thing about it. >> that's it. >> thank very much for being here, always a pleasure. in our final segment tonight, unlikely does not even dig to describe it. ice and africans how a group of small zoe malisomali immigranta big assist as they skate towards their ultimate goal.

♪ ♪ finally from us tonight, something we are sure you have never seen before. there always seems to be some crazy stories from winter olympic hopefuls, the characters you don't forget. eddie the eagle, the jamaican

bobsledders and whole idea of curling, broom sweeping pucks off the is ice still seems off the grid. this story pushes the limits of what we might expect of athlete from somalia. but in a cross cultural mash up, it seems no dream is too great. al jazerra's paul rhys reports on a push that could propel african athletes in to the spotlight at the time winner wir games. >> reporter: a big derby match in a support followed by millions in its heartlands across scanned ma scandinavia a. it's ice rocky but on a ring the size of a football pitch with a ball instead of a puck. it will be demonstrated at the sochi winter games and could become an olympic event in time for 2018. here they are playing for bragging rights in the sweden. now accu derby match there is plenty at stake here for both fans and players but this time

of ice hockey could have wide importance on the question of immigration. here in sweden they are using it as a blueprint to see how sports can help refugees really become a part of society. introducing the national team of somalia. the squad was formed in june from refugees from a town in the forests a couple of hours north of stockholm. seven months later they are compete in this world championships in siberia. it could lead to shot i can't sg to the winter olympics for the first time. the main plan is to relief tensions in this part of the country. >> we will have an opportunity of just sharing what -- sharing with the swedish people what they have and what they are proud of because playing on ice is not a part of somali culture and creates a kind of platform where we can meet and then we

have something to discuss together. >> if we did something very strange or that everybody seems impossible, we do it together, make it possible, swedish and somalis together, then we come closer to each other and that's bandy. >> reporter: somalia has not yet won a game but as none of them could skate a year ago they were just proud to trouble opposing defenses. >> it feels good that we score goals actually two goals it feels awesome. yeah we are not game. >> reporter: greater victories await if these young men continue to show how immigrant can adapt to and enrich life in their new homes. paul rhys. al jazerra. sweden. at least they are having a good time if nothing else. that is it for us here on "america tonight," please remember if you would like to comment on any stories you have

seen on our program, log onto our website. aljazerra.com/americatonight. and you can join the conversation with us on twitter or at our facebook page, we are always on, good night, we'll have more of "america tonight" coming up tomorrow. ♪ ♪

instead they will be able to buy cheaper crop insurance to measure also trims the food stamps budget cutting about $90 a month for 1.7 million people referring aid. congress is looking in to the january 9th chemical leak in west virginia. a senate committee questioned state and local official about his their oversight practices today. victims of the spill also testified the incident cut off the water supply for 300,000 people in the charleston area. no rest for the winter weary. another storm system dumping heavy snow and ice on the parts of the midwest heading east. expect road closures, flight delays and widespread power out i believes, those are the

headline, see you back here at 11:00 eastern, 8:00 pacificism coming up then the ring of fire where there are hundreds of active and deadly volcanos. of course "consider this" with antonio mora is up next. we'll see you back at 11:00. ♪ ♪ the streets to the suburbs, also the olympics strike back. are powerful nations trying to play politics with the games? plus collateral damage in the millions, eyeing the countless refugees on every continent left hopeless because of civil strive. the oldest living survivor of the holocaust, how music literally saved her from the nazis. i am antonio mora and welcome to "consider this." here is more on what's ahead. ♪ ♪