you know to the dictatorship in minnesota so that lasted for years and this is more brutal and the words this is sort of more people dead in a shorter period of time more effective government repression and more brutal government repression then we can see this lasting for a very long time as well other than your sort of devolves into civil war which of course you could al gore has a history of but the people are by and large not armed and the use of the paramilitary forces and the censorship and the paramilitary forces on motorcycles are particularly frightening and again we had that too is you know means that this can go on for a long time and it gives the government some form of like knowledgeable deniability you know down down the line but so you know i unfortunately i think the the people the student protesters have a very long battle ahead of them i don't see or think a letting go anytime soon and you know for the last three years at least that we

know of the russians have been training in arming the military and the paramilitary forces and you've got our and so they and they have backing by cuban intelligence as well so this is not you know there there are no amateurs ok mr cullen but at the same time we've seen thousands of prole supporters on the streets saying that their revolution is now being hijacked by the west. well. this reflects the changes that took place in recent years the money particularly flowing in from venezuela unable the government to massively expound the public sector the the state bureaucracy there's a very large number of people in nicaragua dependent on the state for employment and the pro-government demonstrations. very largely composed of people who've been ordered. by the superiors to to attend and they may know which side their

bread is buttered on they don't want to lose their jobs are going to lose their livelihood and the sandinista youth organization particularly which are very young people who don't remember the sandinista revolution but they. they've been pros happened to the this regime they formed a large part of the. shock troops of the paramilitary troops of the regime i learnt there's no indication to suggest that there might be any political dialogue with or to get in the near future so what is the next step for you for the protesters what are you planning to do in the future. we will barely. get out of this equation. but there are live for us. in government. in my support that is within by him.

and by your standard. theory. and they were getting that. if they continue with the same or. if. we don't know it's not going. on in there either but we don't feel like the government's three main interest. is you know the. regime. do not go into. our ally trying to take them. follow them down everywhere but i think in the next week or something like that. mr.

slater your. blood from when i was thank you very much indeed for your time appreciate the thank you but this is it now boiling down to. what should be next for done the. deposit opposition. must go now yes yes i think that. he must go i mean it's so beyond any point of. unfortunately i think of dog and i know i keep comparing it it's because the the the parallels are so striking you know we've had intermittent dialogue and the paolo's are striking because it's the same people behind it's the same relationships that you know dialogue in minnesota hasn't worked and it says non-current are not going to happen all partly because you have all of these proxy

interests of russia of cuba. that are that are propping it up so they really need to the fourth they've got to sort of stay stay in power and that's even more important to relate in some ways it's a stronger older relationship for them there than it is. so i don't see how dialogue is going to work then the other thing doesn't need to go i think that once you start murdering her own people you know because they want free and fair elections using paramilitary forces and he's been asking by the way and other powell is that they've been asking for and got and are getting are going to get forces from the us well to help keep them in power so if you're supposed to be a liberator who's against foreign intervention but apparently some foreign intervention is ok as long as it's backed by the same people so they're going to fight that turf war as well so there's no there's no there's no end in sight he needs to go there's no there's no to opportunity i think for us to dial. resolution

here mr cullen you've been talking previously about the financial aid provided by the venezuelan government to. as like or to like that will cause the will or promoting or trying to advance the boulevard in a form of socialism for you the unrest in latin america is it a sign that boulevard in socialism doesn't work anymore well i mean it works as long as there's plenty of money i mean the thing about travel is of course you have very abundant oil resources which if they have to splash around at the same time undermining the basis of the economy so when the oil man you started running out which i mean there's no productive capacity in the economy and the state controls as you've been introduced meant there are no incentives for anybody who still had a business to try and produce this of course means that this kind of model has a very limited lifespan and it was precisely because the venezuelan model started

running out of steam with the collapse in the oil price that the aid to nicaragua started to enduring on this call of the whole nicaragua model into into into question as well but of course regular has learned to take has learned from my daughter from from from venezuela that if you are prepared to kill as many people as it takes you can dig in and you can defy both domestic pressures and also foreign pressures to to to give way. you have said that he is interested in dialogue but in fact he the bishops who are supposed to be acting as mediators in the national dialogue he's accuse them of being mongers themselves of the idea of having people mediating talks when the president one side regards of them as trying to overthrow him it's obviously article is not going to happen but he said do you think that the catholic church has the potential to salvage a political settlement. no i mean and only because i don't think that

a political settlement is really going to work here unfortunately i mean you'll forgive my ongoing skepticism i do think that in theory with a slightly different set of circumstances they could they are they are credible they have moral authority this is central america the church is very strong which is partly why you see ortega saying that that that the ones trying to overthrow him are sort of some diabolical force right it's because religion still resonates so strongly not only that the church in central america even more so than in than in the south and then in a smaller for instance is a huge provider of health care education and everything else it's very deeply rooted in the grass roots of you know the poor all areas and it also commands you know the loyalty even of the highly educated you know professional class as you know so matter what you go to church you know so i think they could but they could

bring sort of the business class and the poor class together but you know it's you know it's all about tonight can something so but. it's just not going to happen yeah mr cullen. some very strong words from the united states to states. what can the americas does it do they still have some leverage given their past involvement in the war well of course it's one of the arguments of the government of government that of the fight against imperialism this is a plot involving international organized crime in league with coup mongers the term and also with terrorists. imperialists. does have a certain traction with some sections of the population the americans can do what they've done to venezuela that they can introduce sanctions on named individuals stopping them from traveling freezing their bank accounts and. really ramping up

that kind of pressure to go beyond that is very problematic president trump has talked about considering a military intervention you say and that is where he i don't think even he would consider a military intervention in any character and of course it's not going to happen event where either because it would be very strongly opposed everywhere else in the continent they can try. widening the scope of the end of the individual sanction of course all kinds of international organization can come out with resolutions deploring what's going on here calling on the government to enter a dialogue call off the paramilitaries and so on but this has very limited effect look at somebody who is determined to hang on to power but it's about the same time we've seen some sending this to former allies over. distancing themselves from all the protesters is this something that could convince ultimately ortega just say

of. well i hope so but i still remain skeptical because we've also seen that elsewhere we've seen them going to so i mean you do have some true believers like the sandinista movement had a reason for being there were people who believed that you know that you needed a barrier force and they they came into existence and you had based in a certain set of circumstances and they you have true believers in the rights of the poor equality and all of that so what you're seeing is the fracture of of the true believers versus the ones who have just sort of become a little cabal or a little cartel of power and money and they're rebelling there they view it as a betrayal of their movement now i would be curious to see whether the the people who are speaking out against them are perhaps not is not as deeply rooted in the part of government money that's a possibility but i. will say isn't it interesting that in more than eighty

years ago it was run by two political dynasties the somoza and then the old with grueling his wife to take over what is the problem here with the country is it more about the political elite or is it that the politics of the no the way we know it in the western world does not really function properly in a place like nicaragua well the institutions are not as well established. the country does have. a history a recent history of instability of course you know these things take time to become yes wanted to see followed by another one and one of the features of you know taking a government is one thing but exasperated the private sector is the increasingly sandinista militants and relatives and so on have been cornering what bits of the economy are still functioning well we even bali the general rate of growth has been slowing down. these things need time to for political institutions to

to begin functioning but i think what we have in in a number of american countries but particularly in determination by the government to make sure that this doesn't happen to the new way forward under the present circumstances. and the fact of the last question would be whether autogas going to heed international calls and step aside or stick to power for this annoying when colin harding thank you very much indeed for your presence today looking forward to see near the near future and thank you too for watching you can see the program again any time by visiting our website dot com for further discussion go to our facebook page that facebook dot com forward slash a.j. inside story you can also join the conversation on twitter our handle is a.j. inside story from be on the whole team here by phone or.

a remarkable portrait of a remote japanese village in the aftermath of the two thousand and eleven earthquake and tsunami. seventy years later how has the community of meow cole been able to move on and rebuild their lives. in japan aftermath of a catastrophe on al-jazeera. and monday ported world on

the. u.s. and british companies have announced the biggest discovery of natural gas in west africa but what to do with these untapped natural resources is already a source of heated debate nothing much has changed they still spend most of their days looking forward to for the dry riverbed like this one five years on the syrians still feel battered or even those who managed to escape their countries have been truly unable to escape the war. egypt is now china's biggest trading partner in africa more than ten thousand chinese are living in cairo i wanted to see the permits in september one thousand nine hundred five i came with my friends to egypt many started a small traders but are now successful in business shifted and i began to do business in two thousand and three or two thousand and four at a time that was small but then it began to expand in al-jazeera weldments the growing chinese community in egypt egypt made in china on al-jazeera.

he said i'll be in doha your top stories on al-jazeera twenty four hours after it came into force a truce seems to be holding between israel and gaza a deal was brokered after a deadly friday on both sides of the fence that divides the two parties israeli airstrikes and tank fire dozens of hamas targets following the death of an israeli soldier four palestinians were killed and at least one hundred twenty wounded from gaza and stephanie decker. masses military wing because some brigades are burying their dead three their members were killed on friday afternoon israel struck various ham ass monitoring posts along the border soon after an

israeli soldier was shot from gaza he later died of his wounds sixty sites belonging to ham ass were attacked by israeli forces late into the night a few rockets were fired from gaza in response and a cease fire was announced hours later it's the second ceasefire in a week i don't think this would last for a long time i think it's better for us. unfortunately we will have just. through this or story after that we'll have the same story as him because there are many problems over. the pattern of escalation the fire as relations ceasefire between israel and hamas well they continue on the long term plan to leave the situation for the people here . people are living under this blockade and everyone says the same thing how

impossible life has become. i can't afford anything to work as a tailor in israel before the blockade i made around a thousand three hundred dollars a month at the moment i can't even make three hundred dollars a month exchanging money i work two shifts a day morning and night mother is the meaning of humanity is missing and most people are educated but can't find work people have to straighted i'm depressed people are willing to die those who are married cannot feed their children patients can't get medication and there's no electricity this is really painful and sad palestinians here have little power to influence the political decisions made either in gaza or israel no one wants another war but is one woman asked us what do we need to do to be able to live like everyone else stephanie decker al-jazeera. four boats carrying aid for gaza have left in italy the freedom flotilla coalition campaign says its goal is to peacefully end the israeli blockade of the palestinian

territory it's expected to take just over a week to reach israeli waters and they'll hand over one boat to gaza fischman syrian rebels who surrendered in the southwest have begun arriving in opposition held areas of the province of hama more than fifty buses carrying two thousand three hundred people have reached the town of broke government forces have been making strong gains in the south with most of the areas now under their control protesters to return to the streets of the nicaraguan capital managua months of political unrest pick up more momentum and government demonstrators are demanding president daniel ortega steps down and calls fresh elections. campaigning has begun in pakistan for weapon states election or world bhutto zardari the head of the pakistan people's party and the son of the assassinated former leader benazir bhutto has been rallying in the southern city of karachi the vote is seen as a two way race between the parties of the former cricket star in run current and

jailed former prime minister nawaz sharif young come on board so we can form a government in pakistan where a minister will be afraid of corruption but our national accountability bureau will catch a prime minister and ministers as it happens in europe india scrapping taxes on santa three parents in what's being hailed as a major boost for girls' education they were previously taxed at twelve percent sparking protests when it was imposed last year the additional cost became a problem for girls and women especially in poor and rural areas dozens of wildfires are raging across sweden which is experiencing its worst drought for seventy four years it comes after months of high temperatures and has prompted an appeal for help to other european nations. those are your headlines the news continues here on al-jazeera after head to head by for now.

may twenty eighth. palestinians and israelis mark seventeen years of conflict in the middle east. israelis celebrating the opening of the u.s. embassy in jerusalem what a glorious day remember this moment. running for their lives. protesting against the israeli blockade on gaza which has made their lives unbearable. in two months more than a hundred palestinians were killed by israeli snipers children paramedic german. these people were shot in the back. in the head and. with live ammunition. israel blame hamas. women and children as a ploy to hide their true intentions. the israelis however seem to see the

palestinians as a side show. them much more obsessed with getting the world to focus on the supposed threat from iraq. i'm in the us and i've come here to the oxford union to go head to head with danny ayalon who served as israel's deputy foreign minister abbas of the united states and advisor to prime minister sharon and i'll challenge him on whether israel shooting of palestinian protesters is warrigal all legal and i'll ask him not only about iran's nuclear program but israel's own nuclear weapons tonight a loss to be joined by professor the renowned israeli british historian paul charney chairman of the u.k. zionist federation and deanna booth a palestinian lawyer and former advisor to the p.l.o. .

ladies and gentlemen please welcome danny aiello. currently who heads the truth about israel zionist advocacy organization. thanks. dan we are along on may fourteenth of this year the israeli government celebrated the seventieth anniversary of your country's independence at the opening of the new us embassy in jerusalem i believe you were there as well at that event while over in garza on that same day israeli army snipers killed sixty two palestinians in cold blood gunned him down in full view of the world's television cameras how do you justify can you justify the killing of unarmed palestinian protesters journalists paramedics kids. well maybe no one can justify killing innocent people but i'm not sure this was the case the fourteenth of may there were you're right

sixty two persons were killed they were pushed by their leaders over the hamas and by the way want to destroy the state of israel they were using them as human shields some of them were behind the weed bombs in sin theory mull it over and other things by the way the sixty two must itself confessed the second day that out of the sixty to fifty where active hamas members all the rest when i mean we call it in a way which i don't like collateral damage but. we have to look at who is responsible for the death and the responsible is only hamas here's a question to you one hundred forty three palestinians at least on the count keeps changing because israelis keep killing more have died since march the thirty things the beginning of the so-called great march of return fifteen thousand palestinians let's just be clear fifteen thousand have been wounded four thousand of them according to the united nations was shot with live ammunition are you telling us

are you telling the oxford union audience here the audience at home that those fifteen thousand people were all members of hamas seriously maybe i can look at anyone here in their eyes and say israel is doing its level best. not to kill anyone who's not involved it's very important to know who is responsible here because is it not there isn't on the responsibility of the people pulling the trigger that's normal you know people will have some well killed well how do you define pulling the trigger you have the same must be a man with a name is it a child or fifty metres away and shoots him in the head what about what about palestinian terrorists were hiding behind innocent people who are launching villages are the question that i was wounded how many of them were either members of hamas slash terrorists i do not know i know that from the sixty two on the fourteenth of may fifty were hamas by their own admission on the other is not because i have to be an investigation of the fact you got there how much membership

forms from their bodies but the facts are that the hamas leadership sometimes at gunpoint are sending those poor hamas to go do the spore gazan people to the borders now where's the evidence for the having the boys un doesn't say that human rights groups don't say that and let's go now to the shooting is it even if they were all members of hamas even if all fifteen thousand people are you do realize that under international and basic morality you can't shoot people for being members of a group no matter what group it is you can only shoot them when they pose an imminent threat to you were fifteen thousand people posing an imminent threat to israeli snipers yes they were yes they were. tell you how i'll tell you how first of all not to the israeli snipers but certainly to these really kids and babies and women and men who live in their own territory hamas is sending their people it's not just demonstration countless palestinians admittedly just have been interviewed and they said we did one said momma just go into the but they're all liars are they just go to the blogs of hamas were they say the jews are sons of

pigs and sons of dog or not of course it was a reliable source that's my favorite little in so many israelis are the first to go away my source is hamas or thought it is ten years of doing this course it is because all you have to do is to sit to see what they say you know how about a guy how we look. some facts rather than your own kind of i'll just log quote a little money elsewhere this what threat did resign on the job twenty one year old volunteer paramedic who was shot while wearing a white uniform in the chest one hundred meters away from the fence what threat did she posed to israeli snipers wait a minute this is something i really looked into ok she was glad someone this she was having an incendiary bomb and there was an investigation by the idea of so she was a threat but i have another question for is you why not i don't know why was she why was she going in what i know why she was go is own you are willing and able and she is a paramedic no can you tell me how many israelis were killed by palestinian protesters since march thirtieth you know i didn't check it but the why you are the ones on

the rolls i want to ask why is it that no israeli was killed because the israeli government elected democratically he's defending them people not palestinian the who got a right to not over there same thing then they are sending them to die it's a kind of terminations and if you keep saying they were sent to their death as israelis have no agency you were forced to pull the trigger you just shot them because hamas whispered in your ears to you know you could choose not to kill people at a fence who are just damaging a fence allegedly as the u.n. the e.u. international lawyer said no other country shoots people in this way in the back and they're running away maybe i'm sorry if i show something patients but it's not a human rights situation it's an area in conflict it's an armed guard for these who are also a little human rights you can do whatever you want there is no way it is or else there is a lot of people in the owl shoot nurses shoot kids with them shoot journalists asking. you have a border you have thousands of people stampeding over to your borders with knifes

in their hands with bombs and you know that you have kindergartens journalists and i will have to say that we're not thousands of people with bombs that is a full statement don't you know it out of these thousands it's enough that one has a bomb you know you've got to what more no i know you getting somewhere no you're putting words in my mouth i'm putting your own words in your own mind altering alan's went with knives no no i'm saying that's all true do you stand by that statement i used my mother you know what i stand i said something as i said even if there was one there are a thousand but even if there was one i say you are wrong and you say your name is twenty one year old result on that i had a bomb no evidence of that i will say no it is revealed under investigation here is a by the way your hands up let me ask you this yasser journalist thirty years old shot in the stomach by an israeli sniper he was two hundred fifty meters away from the fence why was he what is it what life does he had what nobody carrying you can quote hundreds of names if you look at them individually i feel bad for them and for their families even if they were coming to harm us almost you how do you say killing was because because they came with harm intention if they were your group

of that. was not hamas was a journalist you shot him in the stomach your country shot him in the stomach he and you claim he had a hurtful intention that's outrageous claim to make some of those dead without anyone absolutely smearing the dead anyone who goes into a war zone knows exactly what he's doing what is the rules and when they come and attack us it's a war zone he was attacking you if you pull a gun you to aim at someone you shoot them remember the israeli military bragged on twitter we know where every bullet demand the you go around the circle to the same point and the point is that we have a border you don't border don't have a bold i don't see it don't look at us there are already applied territories we can see you have a certain i was there is a territory i'm sure people there are living in a prison and they're saying that up until her i beg to differ guys you know for the united nations the european union the international criminal court know every western government the international committee for the. cross says gaza is being treated with collective punishment the view of the i.c.r.c.

can i ask a question does israel control gaza's borders space and territorial waters yes or no no no no really right not wow because if you're going to come in and say bare faced with the things that. they just imagine the bullets hitting the missing the blockade is because they didn't tell us about the body but i'm glad you brought that up as well but he says you're doing palestinian iran says it is killing and want to kill us and they say we want to blot israel off the map we don't want any jews there and this is the main problem your former boss of a dual lieberman israel's current defense minister under of your you raised now would touchy issue look i wouldn't what is the difference thirty seven years my whole body is easier for my boss he's also the current defense i'm not a party anymore another pendant please let it be reported he said quote there are no innocent people in the gaza strip to justify the killings do you support that statement this and i'm not in the government i do not support lieberman i do not support many things he says i don't think that they are not innocent people in gaza there are but they are subject to the terror of hamas and they are sending them

into the border and when generals we can vogel former head of southern command seven april if a child or anyone else gets close to the fence his punishment is death that death penalty for anyone who comes near a fence i don't agree to that except if he is holding a weapon mohammed ibrahim fourteen years old was not holding any weapon israeli snipers shot him in the head did he deserve to die no one deserves to die for what is really. unless the aim to kill he wasn't aiming to kill so why should the war i'm not sure if you look at the if you look at the facts what are the facts the thing you don't know transparent investigations you don't know any international investigators in and then you say trust you that the nurse had a bomb in a fourteen year old i was going to kill a sniper i do trust. the israeli military i do trust the israeli supreme court which is very much trusted by all the world israel is transparent that is

right well i'm sorry not what. i may say things which may be inconvenient truth they're also not true but i live here to speak the truth let's go to our panel that we're talking to here in the city indiana brit's here is a palestinian state is roe is a human rights lawyer is a former advisor to the p.l.o. would you can see how much does have some responsibility for the way in which it runs gaza for the way in which it incites attacks against israel for some of the deaths in part in the gardasil the only not every choice israel has made israel's always had an opportunity to choose whether to kill these people who are who are protesting or not to kill them and they have deliberately chosen to kill them the idea that somehow we are all linked to have mass that somehow we because people are linked to hamas that they are not human beings is absolutely ridiculous he knows very well that the only time that a soldier can shoot is if that soldier himself or herself is under threat there been no israeli soldiers killed or injured it means that what israel is doing is

deliberately choosing to slaughter palestinians before i bring back and thank you paul charney is here from the zionist federation of the u.k. former you served in the idea of it when you see what's going on in gaza when you put yourself in those positions of those israeli soldiers do you do you say you know what the shin to pull the trigger on those kids they won't posing an imminent threat is not a threat to me it would you say actually as danny does everyone could be a threat so as an officer in the i.d.f. i held myself to the highest regard and i hope that they held me to the highest regard no one in the israeli army has got has ever had an order to kill civilians that's never happened i've never been around to see it i've never heard it happen on the other side of it. well how must tell is wrong that we are here to breach that border and come in kill civilians we take him in his role very seriously that's the one thing you can't trust us breaching

a border breaching the border of any country is an act of war do not ask is wrong not to defend this event ok let's put that point this was a point of the line with a the show i'm a prominent british israeli historian former professor here oxford university i wish any other country would do what israel israel has a right to defend itself is what we here i served in the idea.