>> >> hello. welcome to al jazeera america. i'm del walters in new york. we are following two major stories. in washington g.m., c.e.o., is set to testify about the controversial real, any moment, involving millions of g.m. cars. and in belgium, the screen on the right. secretary of state john kerry set to hold a news conference in a moment. we'll begin with the situation involving g.m. 2.6 million cars with a faulty ignition switch blamed for a dozen deaths.

congress wants to know what g.m. knew and when it knew it. today connecticut senator richard bloomen fold taking to the steps of the capitol expressing concerns. >> concealment can kill. gm made a business decision to hide a defect. not only to avoid repairing it, but to conceal it. it concealed it not only from its customers, and from many of its employees, it concealed it from the united states government. >> we have a team of reporters covering the story. bisi onile-ere is in detroit. david shuster is with me in the studio. we'll begin with libby casey on capitol hill in washington. what is the latest? what are we hearing that g.m., c.e.o. mary barra, will say before congress. >> we saw the written remarks.

she'll apologise that g.m. found out about the faulty ignition switches a decade ago. she's been the c.e.o. sips december. she's been involved in the company for her professional life. she's going talk about steps the company has taken to improve things in the last couple of months, appointing someone to oversee safety of production, and have taken on a prosecutor to look into not just the details of the faulty ignition switches, but the chain of information, why they had folks on the production line that had knowledge, but they were not issuing recalls and getting the word to other parts of the company, or who the company knew what, and when they knew it. they are trying to work with customers, if they can get loener vehicles. al jazeera america talked to families of victims of the crashes. and they want the cars off the road. they don't think fixing the

switches is enough. we are talking about if you have a key ring that is heavy, it can weigh down the ignition switch or if you hit the wrong bump in the road, it can flip it, turning off the power. so you can have power steering failure, break failure to airbags. >> mary barra will face tough questions from members of congress. today members of the house, tomorrow members of the senate. >> mary barra entering the senate chambers where the committee hearing will begin, she has not gone to the table where she'll speak. what a difference a month makes in the case of the c.e.o., held as one of the first female titans, and has to face all the questions coming with that role. >> she's speaking before a house oversight committee, one dealing with demrge and commerce, and -- energy and comers.

and some are questioning whether they broke the draw, and didn't adhere to the tread act, requiring companies to give notice of defect in their automobile line in five business days. that did not happen. >> we go to mary barra, testifying before the house. >> customers began filing complaints about the ignition switch. they told general motors that by bumping the key driving the cobalt it shut off. in 2004 and 2005 general motors engineers considered the problem and thought of how to fix it. g.m. decided got were high and none represented an acceptable business case. the solution was to deal deal tors ask cobalt drivers to remove heavy objects from the key chains. a year later g.m. decided to f

the switch. they told their supplier to increase the torque so the key wouldn't move out of run into accessory mode. g.m. was not alone in examining the problems with the cobalt. the league investigator at national traffic highry information was evaluating concerns with the cobalt. they didn't look at the ignition switch, but air bag deployment. the chief of the defects system programed that the agency investigate the cobalt because he spotted a pattern of non-deploilts in cobalt airbags that didn't exist with similar disans. an internal ni t.s.a. noticed 24 crashes, 29 injuries, and field reports. ni t.s.a. decided not to

investigate, even when the issue was raised in 2010. ni t.s.a. passed on investigating. g.m. looked into the airback non-deployment. they started tracking incidents where cobalt air bags did not deploy in car crashes. they assigned two groups to examine the problem in 2011/2012. it wasn't until 2013 that the company finally put the pieces together andlinged the problems with the air bags with the faulty ignition switch, 10 years after customers told g.m. the cobalt ignition switch didn't work. we know this - the red flags were there for gn and ni t.s.a. to take action, it did not happen. why didn't they put the pieces together for 10 years, why didn't anyone ask the critical important questions, why did g.m. select parts below their standard and specs.

when guilt n got a new switch was that because they acknowledged there was a problem. why did it have the same part number, causing problem. why did g.m. replace the ignition switch in new cars, and not the older model, why did they think the memo about key chains was enough. why did ni t.s.a. decide not to investigate the koeb amount. and why did they make the link between the ignition and air bags not deploying. between g.m. and ni t.s.a. do they talk to one another and not pass information up and down the chain of command. what we have here is a failure to communicate, and the results were deadly. a failure to communicate between and within g.m. and ni t.s.a. we will ask g.m. and ni t.s.a.

what they are doing to fix the car and a culture within a business and government regulator that led to the problems this. is about restoring public trust and giving family members truth as to whether it could prevented. it is my hope we will not see finger pointing and blame, people don't care that you know until they know that you care. this investigation is only three weeks old, we are determined to find the facts and identify problems so it doesn't happen again. it's a priority of the committee. i want to thank mary barra for being here, and the head of nit sea, david freemant.s.a., david >> i now give the rest of my time to dr burgess. >> i thank you and thank the witnesses for being here to the

committee staff request. this is an important matter. we have questions for general motors, and the national highway traffic safety administration. two chances to open up investigations in 2007 and 2010, nh t.s.a. decided twice that no investigation was need the. we need to hear from them how you intend to improve the process and we were here with the toyota investigation five years ago and heard a lot of things out of nh t.s.a. out of they say haras-- those heari. >> i recognise the ranking member of the committee, the member from colorado. >> thank you very much. like all of u i'm deeply troubled about what our investigation has revealed about

g.m.'s business practices and commitment to safety. here is what we know. we know that g.m. recalled over 2.5 million vehicles because of defective ignition switches. we know they should have done it much, much earlier. we know that g.m. failed to provide federal regulators with key information, and, sadly, we know that 13 people are dead and there have been dozens of crashes because g.m. produced cars that had a deadly effect. mr chairman, i have a copy of the ignition switch assembly for one of these vehicles. this is it. a spring inside the switch. a piece that costs pennies failed to provide force causing the car to turn off. g.m. knew about the problem if 2001. they were warned again and again

over the next decade and did nothing. i want to show how easy it is to turn the key in the switch. if you had a heavy key chain like my mum key chain or you were short and bumped the ignition with your knee, it could cause the key to switch off. we now know that the switches were detective from the start. in february 2002, g.m.'s ignition switch supplier informed the company that the switch didn't meet the minimum specifications. g.m. approved it anyway. yesterday we sent ms mary barra a letter about the decision, i'd like to make it part of the hearing record. >> without objection. >> soon after the approval the detective cars were on the road. it did not take long for problems to appear. in 2003, june 2003, the owner of

a saturn ion with 3,474 miles on the odometer made a warranty report that he or she "bumped the key and the car shut off". g.m. received more than 130 similar warranty complaints from openers about the problem over the next decade, but never informed the public or reported the problem to federal safety regulators, the minority staff conducted the warranty analysis and we prepared a memo about the claims. i ask unanimous concept to put that in the record mr chairman. >> without objection. >> initially g.m. opened multiple investigation, each concluding that the switch was bad, didn't meet the min mulls. in 2005 g.m. invoiced solutions to the problems but concluded "the tooling cost and piece price are too high. thus, none of the solutions

represent an acceptable business case." documents provided by gm shows that the unacceptable cost increase was only $0.57. and, mr chairman, we have this document that we got from g.m. somehow it's not in the bundle. i ask unanimous consent to put that in. >> without objection so ordered. >> another technical investigation in 2005, let g.m. to issue a technical service bulletin, advising dealers to insert key inserts, a fix to reduce the force on the switch. these are the keys much a staff member who owns one of these cars. and, as you can see, there's a long, long insert. what the key inserts were supposed to do was go in the middle and create a hole so the key and the keys wouldn't go

back and forth. unfortunately gm never made this bulletin public. more than 500 people out of the thousands of drivers who had cars with faulty switches got the key insert. g.m. knew it. soon after this decision company officials quietly redesigned the switch, but never changed the part number, and astonishingly the committee learnt that when they approved a new switch in 2006, they did it knowing the new switch did not meet specifications... >> you are listening to al jazeera's coverage of the house energy and commerce committee. g.m. chair woman is testifying concerning the problems with faulty ignition switches, we are following several stories, and watching event in brussels, where we are awaiting a news

conference from secretary of state john kerry. we want to go to al jazeera's bisi onile-ere, in detroit. it used to be said when g.m. sneezed the rest of the world caught a cold. how concerned are they about what is taking place in washington? >> well, as you can imagine, g.m.'s problems are making headlines here in detroit over the past couple of month, and a lot of people have questioned and wonder ared why did it take -- wondered why did it take so long for general motors to take up the issue with the ignition switches, that it should have been brought to the forefront. a lot of autoanalysts are watching to see what if any impact g.m.'s issues will have or had on the automakers march sales. the numbers were expected to come out this morning. there has been a glitch in a computer system. we are still waiting for the numbers. earlier today i did have the

opportunity to talk to an auto insider about the significance of today's hearing, and he talked about what g.m. needs to do from here. take a listen. snow at the end of the day it's g.m.'s responsibility, g.m. leadership responsibility and employee's responsibility, and what will happen now, after the spotlight is off, they will work this hard, they need to work it hard and fix the process. and reassure customers that they can deliver on a continuing basis a lot more quality than expected. g.m. has a record. they were named the top quality automotive company just last year by jd power. they have come a long way from the old days, but they need to figure out what is wrong with the process and fix it now. >> they definitely have a lot of

work ahead of what many autoanalysts are looking for, and consumers. they want to get to the truth of the matter. c.e.o. mary barra met with some people who had loved ones die in accidents in some vehicles under question, and she was emotional, shed tears and talking to the families. as you know, it stands that g.m. is facing a number much lawsuits and they keep going up. >> bisi onile-ere for us in detroit. stand by. david shuster with me in the studio, he's been following the story from the beginning. i go back to 2007/2008. the big three automakers coming to washington hat in hand, set back because they flew in on corporate jets, needing a bailout. we are talking about what g.m. do, but in a real sense talking about the large corporate partner, that being the united states government. >> in 2009 they declared bankruptcy and the deposit steps in with the bail out that you

mentioned. it's an important point you raise. when a company declares bankruptcy and g.m. fits the bill. they are shielded from legal liability in terms of dams with the lawsuits for incidents that happened before they went into bankruptcy, to 2004, 2005 all the way to 2009 when they declared bankruptcy, that is a different company than they are now. what they are now, or the company then was a shell, and again today's g.m. is not league ally liable. you can -- lyingally liable. all you cap do is embarrass general motors, find out if it was a financial decision. stocks could be downgraded. they were a jupping bond status -- junk bond status, and you have internal memos saying that the tooling cost and the piece price are too high. maybe you can embarrass g.m. and

executives and nhtsa for the government agency not taking action. >> and you can embarrass the administration, because this is a house committee meeting, discussing g.m. and the role of nhtsa, what it knew and didn't know or did and didn't do? >> the national highway traffic safety administration discovered there was a pattern of airbags not deploying in 2007. during the bush administration, and during that time, they decided "okay, this is not worthy of a follow up. all the way through to fine, if you want to place blame, you can say nhtsa, although it's not a political agency, a lot of questions for what was nhtsa thinking in 2007, 2009. what was gm m thinking? -- g.m. thinking. were they motivated by cost. why did it take a couple of

months for them to say, "okay, maybe we should recall the cars.". david shuster stand by. bisi onile-ere is in detroit, and nick schifrin is in jerz rsh, because -- jerusalem, because we are awaiting word from secretary of state john kerry and talks about the middle east crisis we'll take a break and be right back.

>> i'm del walters in new york. we are following two stories. in washington g.m.'s c.e.o. is at capitol hill to testify about the ignition switch and recalls.

we are awaiting word from u.s. secretary of state john kerry, set to hold a news conference in brussels belgium. he'll talk about several issues, among them the ongoing crisis in ukraine, but also any breakthroughs that might be or may have been scuttled concerning the ongoing middle east peaces process. nick schifrin has been following that process. a huge development when we thought there was word that jonathan pollard, a convicted u.s. spy may be released, is that going to happen? >> well, it is definitely up in the air tonight. we have the second major crisis in the last 36 hours in these talks. all day you and i have been talking about a tentative deal that the u.s. and israel had made over the last 24 hours that went way beyond anything the u.s. had been willing to do for the last decades. release jonathan pollard, an american convicted of spying, on behalf of israel, and sentenced

to life in prison. a deal to extend talks, pause israeli settlements and a deal to release 400 palestine prisoners. that's what we were working under the assumption of, the deal was presented to the palestine leadership. what happened at that point is that the palestine leadership came out and said "we are going to the international organizations for recognition." let's step back and understand how important that is. the basis of these talks was that the palestinians would not go to the international organizations so long as the talks were going on. the palestinians were saying "we don't trust the talks." they have not walked away and said "we are only going to the international organizations because the israelis reneged on their promise to release these prisoners by last weekend." the palestinians playing hardball,

challenging theest railies to -- the israelize to say "we are going to the international organisation, are you willing to talk if we do this?" that's up in the air. we'll hear from secretary of state john kerry as to whether he'll fly to ramallah, jerusalem, or if the talks are dead. >> jonathan pollard, it was a massive piece on the chess board. he was arrested in 1985 considered to be a major intelligence coup. >> let's put it this way, before edward snowden, one of the largest leakers of intelligence was jonathan pollard. successive c.i.a. directors, defense officials threatened to resign if jonathan pollard was released was part of the negotiations with israel.

the president - obama has not gone so far as to agree to release pollard, according to the estate department and white house spokesman, but it was clear from senior u.s. officials that i spoke to and those that spoke to all journalists that jonathan pollard was on the table. that is a real shift in the last few decades of u.s. intelligence, and foreign policy for the united states, all of which the c.i.a. directors, the defense department officials said we cannot give up someone who spied on his own country, walked out of naval intelligence headquarters with bags, suite cases literally fall of 2500 documents, some of the most sensitive that the u.s. had and not only sold them to israel, but perhaps a lot of u.s. officials believed tried to market them to the highest budder, including china. that's why people feel strongly about jonathan pollard, and it's

significant that he's on the table again. >> nick, stand by as we await word from secretary of state john kerry. >> we are following two stories, the situation with secretary of state john kerry, and on capitol hill, the c.e.o., mary barra, on the left-hand side. the right-hand is brussels, where we are awaiting a news conference from secretary of state john kerry. mary barra is being introduced now. she'll make her comment concerning the g.m. recall. as many as 12 deaths have been linked to faulty ignition switches on g.m. cars, the problem dating back to 2001. congress wanting to know what g.m. knew, and when. mary barra apologising to family members in an experience said my many, including libby casey, to

be emotional. let's listen in to capitol hill. >> in that case if you would rise and raise your right hand i'll wear you in. do you swear that the testimony you are about to give will be the truth, the whole truth and nothing but the truth. >> i do. >> you are under oath and subject to the penalties set forth of the united states code. you may give a 5 minute summy of your written statement. >> thank you mr chairman and committee members. can you hear me? okay. thank you mr chairman and committee members. my name is mary barra, i'm the chief executive of general motors. i appreciate the opportunity to be here today. more than a decade ago g.m. embarked on a small-car program. sitting here today i cannot tell you why it took so long for a safety defect to be announced for this program. i can tell you we will find out.

this is an extraordinary situation. it involves vehicles we no longer make. but it came to light on my watch, so i'm responsible for resolving it. when we have answers we will be fully transparent with you, with our regulators, and with our customers. while i cannot turn back the clock, as soon as i learnt about the problem we acted without hesitation. we told the world we had a problem that needed to be fixed. we did so because whatever mistakes were made in the past, we will not shirk from our responsibilities now or in the future. today's g.m. will do the right thing. it begins with my sincere apologies to everyone affected by the recall, especially the families and friends who lost their lives or were injured. i am deeply sorry. i asked former u.s. attorney anton de-lucas to conduct a

thorough why unimpeded investigation of the what happened. he is well along with his work. he has free rein to go where the facts take him, regardless of outcomes. the facts will be the facts. once they are in, my leadership team and i will do what is needed to help assure this does not happen again. we will hold ourselves fully account ail. however, i want to stress i'm not waiting for his results to make changes. i've named a new vice president of global vehicle safety, a first. his priority is to identify and resolve any and all product safety issues. he is not taking on the task alone. i stand with him and my senior leadership team stands with him as well. we will welcome input from outside of g.m., from you, from nhtsa, from our customers,

dealers and current and former employees. the latest round of recalls demonstrates how serious we are about the way we want to do things at today's g.m. we have identified the issues and brought them forward and we are fixing them. i have asked our team to stress the system at g.m. and work with one thing in find - the customer and their safety are at the center of everything we do. our customers who have been affected by the recall are getting full and undivided attention. we are talking to them through a dedicated website, with constantly changing information and social media platforms. we trained and assigned more people, over 100, to customer call centres, and wait times are down to seconds. we are sending customers written information through the mail. we empowered dealers to take measures to treat each case.

if people do not want to drive a vehicle before it is repaired, dealers can provide them with a loner or rental car. we have provided nearly 13,000 loner vehicles. if a customer is looking for another car, dealers are allowed to provide cash allowances for the purchase of a lease or new vehicle. our supplier is manufacturing new replacement parts for the vehicles that are no longer in application. we have commissioned two lines and of course aed for a third production -- asked for a third production line. the parts will be delivered next week. these measures are the first in making things right and rebuilding trust with the customers. as i reminded employees, getting the cars repaired is only the first step. giving customers the best support possible throughout the process is how we will be judged. i would like this committee to know that all of our g.m.

employees and i are determined to set a new standard. i'm encouraged to say that everyone at g.m., up to and including the board of directors, supports this. i'm a second generation g.m. employee, and here as the c.e.o., but here representing the men and women who are part of today's g.m. and dedicated to putting the highest quality, safe safest vehicles on the road. i held a town hall meeting to introduce the vp of safety, we met in michigan, one place where the men and women that engineer the vehicle work. >> they are the brains behind the car, and the heart behind general motors. it was a tough meeting. like me, they are disappointed and upset. i could see it in their faces and here it in their voices. they had many of the same questions i suspect are on your

mind. they want to make things better for the customers and in that process make g.m. better. they wanted to know what we planned to do for those that suffer the most from this tragedy. i'm pleased to announce we retaped kenneth fine berg to help us recommend the path forward. i am sure the committee foes mr fineburg is qualified and experienced in handling matters such as this. having led the examination efforts involved with 9/11, the bp oil spill, and the boston marathon bombing. mr fineburg brings expertise and objectivity to this effort. as i have said, i consider this to be an extraordinary event, and we are sponding to it in an extraordinary way. as i see it, g.m. has civil responsibilities, and league at responsibilities. we are thinking through exactly what those responsibilities are,

and how to balance them in an appropriate manner. bringing out mr fine-berg is the first step. i would be happy to answer your questions. thank you. >> i want to acknowledge all the families are here, and know that we are aware and that sympathies of all the committee, one kelly of pennsylvania is one we offer sympathy, but we have all of you in our hearts. >> our committee reviewed more than 200,000 pages of documents. what we found is as soon as the cobalt hit the road in 2004 drivers began to immediately complain to general motors that the car's ignition systems didn't work properly. you can imagine how frightening it is to drive a car that loses power steering and brakes. in 2002 g.m. knew the switch did not meet the specification for toshing, am i correct?

>> yes. >> g.m. intrtion looked at the problem and understood the torque and switch measured below inspection, is that right? >> yes. >> is it common practice for g.m. to accept a part that does not meet g.m. specifications. >> no. but there's a difference between a part meeting or not meeting specifications and being defective. >> under what example >>. >> when you purchase steel, you set a specification, because of suppliers and availability of steel to make product, you assess the performance, the functionality, the durabilitiy, you know, the aspects of the part or in this case the steel that is necessary to live up to what the performans and durabilitiy of safety needs to be. it's an example of when you would have a part or material that doesn't meet the speck set

out but acceptable from a safety, functionality perspective, performance as well. >> is the switch acceptableful. >> sorry. >> is the switch acceptable. >> at what time frame, sorry. >> at the beginning if didn't meet the specs, is that what you consider... >> we'll breakaway from the coverage of mary barra, because we want to bring you secretary of state john kerry talking about the crisis in ukraine, in brussel, belgium. >>..have been violated and frankly our alliance has been put to the test. let me reiterate what president obama said last week in this city. russia today challenged truths that only a few weeks ago prosecutor to be self-evident that the borders of europe would not be redrawn with force, and international law guides all of us, that people, the nations must always be able to make

their own decisions about their own future. it's clear that the alliance is prepared for this moment. we heard that over and over again today from every participant. we are unified, and the alliance is strong. today n.a.t.o. allies tasked the supreme allied commander to provide visible reassurance with respect to our central and eastern european allies. assurance that article 5 of n.a.t.o.'s treaty means what it says on land, air and sea. the united states has already begun to contribute to this mission. because as president obama reaffirmed to secretary-general rasmussen last week, and i reiterated to my colleagues today, the united states' commitment to article 5 obligations is unwavering.

in recent weeks, the united states has augmented n.a.t.o.'s baltic air policing mission with six additional f-16s, we deployed 12, f-16s to poland. u.s. "trixtan" is in the black sea. more u.s. support is on the way. today many allies pledge their own contributions to assure every ally from the baltic to the black sea feels secure. just as importantly, europe and north america have stood together in defense of ukraine's right to choose its future. and in defense of international law. together we have rejected any notion that there is any legality in russia's effort to annex crimea and chnged, we have all challenged the tactics of intimidation, particularly the

deployment of unprecedented amounts of military forces around ukraine's borders. ukraine's democratic and economic suggest es is, in the end -- success is, in the end, going to be the best response. every ally pledged unwavering support in order to help ukraine to succeed. this includes international monetary fund, the o.s.c.e. monitors, and through our support for free, fair, constitutional elections and for constitutional reform, as well as the anticorruption and demobilization efforts that are taking place. we reaffirmed to foreign minister that just as ukraine stood in partnership for the past two decades, it's important that n.a.t.o. stand in

partnership now with ukraine. we endorsed a range of measures in order to do so. secretary-general rasmussen in ukraine a wake-up call. reminding that stability and security in our neighbourhood requires vigilance. i made clear that many members of the alliance need to step up defence spending. as we plan for the summit in wales, each of us must demonstrate by the decisions we take and budget commitments we make, that we are committed to each other, and by our shared security and our shared prosperity and shared values, we'll continue to maintain that strength. this afternoon we mashed the five, 10 and -- marked the 5,

10, 15 year anniversary of n.a.t.o.'s cold war expansions. it is clear that each of these expansions has actually strengthened n.a.t.o. by observing doors for millions of people who, through the power of this alliance, now are able to experience greater opportunity, greater prosperity, and greater security. as free nation, we will continue to stand together and stand always in defense of international law, of our mutual security, and the right of nations and people everywhere to freely choose their own destiny. our meeting today underscored the principals in wards in deeds. i would be happy to take a couple of questions. >> the first question from margaret brennan of cbs news.

>> thank you very much. mr secretary, two questions for you - n.a.t.o. says there's no signs of a russian paul back. what is it going to take -- pull back, what is it going to take for the body to have a greater show of force? is seems some members are loath. and in middle east peace, where are we with mab a this brinksmanship, and has the u.s. offered the release of jonathan pollard. >> that's about three or four questions, i think. i'm happy to april them. with respect to n.a.t.o. and the presence of force and what is it going to take - i think everybody here today made it clear that the preference of nato, the preference of all of us is to see a deescalation, to find a diplomatic route in order

to be able to work hopefully, ultimately together to strengthen the possibilities of ukrainions making their own choices about ukraine in the fumpt that's the goal -- future. that's the goal. at the same time it's important for everyone in the tworld understand that the n.a.t.o. -- world to under that the n.a.t.o. alliance tags seriously an attempt to change borders by use of force. so that is the wake-up call. as a result people have made a commitment to strengthen missiblely, as a matter of deterrence and a matter of reality, the deployment and efforts of those who are members of this alliance. with respect to the - the deescalation, we were happy that

yesterday russia made app announcement - vladimir putin made the announcement initially, that they'd move a battalion back, and that's obviously small compared to the numbers deployed but it is a welcome gesture in the right direction. the question now is will they be able to build on that to move the masses of troops back and de-escalate. there's a delicate balance and we are engaged in efforts with lots of people engaged in the efforts, to see if there's a way forward. that's a lot of discussion here, it will be some discussion at the dinner tonight is to help map the road forward. with respect to the middle east peace process, i've heard a

rumour about, you know, "not being invited", but i'm not sure i'm going, regardless of that. whether or not we have certain things that were trying -- we're trying to figure out in terms of logistics on the ground and what is possible. what is important to say about the middle east right now is it is completely premature tonight to draw any kind of judgment - certainly any final judgment - about today's events and where things are. you know, this is a moment to be clear eyed and sober about this process. it is difficult, it is emotional. it requires huge decisions, some of them with great political difficulty, all of which need to come together simultaneously. all i can tell you is we are continuing even now, as i am standing up here speaking, to be

engaged with both parties to find the best way forward. now, we have been in touch with the white house in washington during the day, as well as all of the parties, and i've talked to many people on the ground in the region, and i will continue to tonight. so my team is on the ground meeting with the parties, even tonight. and we urge both sides to show restraint while we work with them. obviously it's moments like this when we need to remember what brought us to this effort in the first place, what the goal is, and where everything wants to end up. tonight i haven't heard yet what the public response of israel has been, but i know that president abbas in his congress made it clear that he continues to working even tonight, on the process we are engaged in.

we'll see where we wind up at the end of the evening in the next days. it is, as i said at the outset of my remarks, completely premature to draw any judgments about this at this point in time. at this point in time no agreement has been rasped with respect to any -- reached with any prisoner, not even the ones at this moment that are at issue in terms of the transfer. the cabinet in israel has to vote. i'm not sure when that will take place, or not. there is no agreement at this point in time regarding anyone or any specific steps. there are a lot of different possibilities in play. >> the next question will be from leslie rutten of reuters. >> mr secretary, i want to be clear with you. there's a lot of reports. we understand from a u.s. official that you are not travelling to ramallah tomorrow,

but if it is true - i mean, i looked at the transcript and president abbas signed conventions to join the 15 agencies, is this, in your mine, a breach of the understanding of the process that you launched eight, nine months ago. on the other hand, how do you see the way going forward. if this is the way that president abbas explained it, that the israelis did not release the prisoners, that was the agreement. he agreed he wouldn't go to the u.n. until the end of april, and he's going go now. there seems to be a lot of disappointment. >> he's not. let me make it clear. none of the agencies that president abbas signed tonight involved the u.n., none of them. president abbas has given his tword me that he'll -- word to me that he'll keep his agreement and will continue to negotiate through the end of april.

obviously the prisoners were due on the 29th, which is the saturday. i'm not going to get into the who, why, what, when, how of why we are where we are today. where we are today, and the important thing is to keep the process moving and find a way to see whether or not the parties are prepared to move forward. in the end, this is up to the parts. i mean, i want to make this crystal clear. the united states is proud and ready and willing to be a facilitator in the process. but the leaders on both sides have to make the decision, not us. it's up to them to decide what they are prepared to do, with each other, for each other, for the future, for the region, for peace, and we'll do everything in our power. president obama has been as committed to this as anybody. he has committed personal time,

my time, the president is desirous of trying to see how we can make our best efforts in order to find a way to facilitate. that facilitation is only as good as the willingness of leaders to make decisions when they are put in front of them. we'll continue to do our work. we'll continue because this matters. matters to the region, matters to the parties, matters to us, matters to the world. everywhere i go people ask me is there any progress, can you get anywhere, can you move. the one i think that i keep in the center of my mind is that even tonight both parties say they want to continue to find a way forward. so we willto work with them in order to try to do that. >> thank you everyone. >> thank you everyone. >> there's a dinner he has to go to. >> i'm late, super late for the. >>. i apologise, thank you.

>> that is screp address -- secretary of state john kerry addressing reporters in belgium concerning several events, also a possible reported breakthrough concerning the mid east peace pros and a swap of prisoners involving jonathan pollard, the convicted spy who was picked up by u.s. authorities in 1985. nick schifrin has been following the developments for us from jerusalem, and has been the man on the ground. your rehabilitation to both of the comments by the secretary of state saying that he believes that the n.a.t.o. forces will enforce article 5 of the n.a.t.o. treaty being if russia enters n.a.t.o. territory they'll act accordingly, seeming to hold tonne the mid east peace process by pins, needleless, and threads. >> ukraine, first, and trying to do it quickly. kerry has to say that. it's a red line for russia to go

in to eastern ukraine. it's one thing for russia to go into crimea, something that the u.s., e.u., europe didn't want. the difference between invading crimea and eastern ukraine is ukraine is the bridge between the west and the east. crimea has never been part of the bridge. it was russian, it's one thing to go to the southern tip inside the black sea, it's different to match across the bridge between the west and the east and try to move the border to the west. john kerry has to seem strong, the u.s. has to seem strong, and has to be willing to put a military might or say they will behind an invasion in the east. n.a.t.o. says they don't see the russian troops diminishing this crisis. everything that the u.s. said about crimea or ukraine, russia

ignored. the ball is in russia's court. on israel and the palestinians. very important line from john kerry, trying to save the process. he said yes, mahmoud abbas has gone to the international organizations even though mahmoud abbas when the process started said "we will not go to the international organizations so long as the process contin s continues", the implication that it was dead. kerry says the international organization do not include the u.n. that is important. they can use the international criminal court to sue or accuse israelis of war crimes. that's really a red line for his rail. what kerry is trying to do, perhaps convince americans and the world or, in fact, prime minister binyamin netanyahu, who is no doubt watching that press conference, to find the depra area, say "look, he has gone

further than you wanted to, but not as far as he could have, so can we find the middle ground", that's what john kerry is trying to convince the israelis to do. the senior advisor is meeting with the israelis and palestinians, trying to convince them that abbas could have gone further, so let's figure out if abbas went this far, maybe israeli can go further. >> fascinating when questioned on the issue of jonathan pollard being released, he did not deny that there may have been an effort underway to do so if it would have salvaged the peace talks. >> that goes to show how far the u.s. has gone, how far john kerry is going on this middle east peace process, he met the palestinians 39 times. no secretary of state has done

this, considering releasing jonathan pollard goes against fully decades of u.s. intelligence officials advice, foreign policy. this is an american who spied on america. nonetheless, u.s. officials, c.i.a. directors, defense officials said "you cannot be lenient on someone that spies on america", john kerry willing to go that far. obama willing to go that far. the real rub is two senior u.s. officials said in the last day they fear that john kerry wants the peace more than the israelis and the palestinians do. what you heard is john kerry say it's up to them. right. we became pushed them as far as we can, we are continuing to convince them. if binyamin netanyahu will stay, he'll stay. if abbas wants to stay, he says he does, he will stay. the u.s. is trying to coral

them. if the u.s. wants this peace, it's possible one of them will walk, and we'll see the dissolution of the peace process. >> nick schifrin live in jerusalem, he has been following the event concerning the breakthrough and following the event in ukraine. we follow the crisis in ukraine signs origins in november. we want to reminded audience that we watch the events unfolding in capitol hill. that is where the c.e.o. of general motors is testifying before the hill concerning the faulty ignition switch, blamed for as many as 12 death, she said the facts will be the facts, and introduced congress to the new g m. more details, as always ahead.

>> welcome back to al jazeera america. at least are your headlines. c.e.o. from general motors is on capitol hill, answering questions about the faulty ignition. >> whatever the problems in the past, we will no shirk from our responsibilities now or in the future. today's guilt m will do the right -- g.m. will do the right thing. that begins with my sincere apologies to everyone effected by the recall, especially family and friend who lost their lives and were affected