this is "gps," global public square. welcome to all of you in the united states and around the world. i'm fareed zakaria. today on the show, president trump breaks decades of tradition on jerusalem. >> it is time to officially recognize jerusalem as the capital of israel. >> those words upset america's allies and enemies alike. one ally was of course pleased. >> president trump, thank you for today's historic decision. >> but will it put peace further out of reach? >> i have a great panel to debate. also, it was the united nations that laid out the plan for jerusalem in 1947.

i have an exclusive interview with the secretary general to get his reaction and to talk about his broader relations with president trump. and also, what can possibly be done about north korea? >> hope is the last thing we can afford to lose. >> but first, here's my take. with his decision to move the american embassy to jerusalem president trump did something puzzling for a person who claims to be a great deal-maker. he made a massive preemptive concession to one side in a complicated negotiation without getting anything for it in return. if that's how he operates it's no wonder so many of his former colleagues think he isn't

actually a very successful businessman after all. jerusalem is israel's capital and will remain so. i don't dispute the fact or its merits but the reason that all 86 country that is have embassies in israel have so far located them in tel aviv is that jerusalem is an integral part of the final settlement between israelis and palestinians. it contains site sacred and a large arab population that comprises more than a third of the city's total. so the formal status of jerusalem has always been seen by republicans and democrats as a matter to be codified. trump's announcement appears to be designed largely to delight core elements of trump's base at home. evangelical christians. the only strategic aspect is it will help shore up the senatorial contest in alabama. there are ways to solve the jerusalem problem such as by

carving out some neighborhoods in the eastern part of the city and align the palestinians to claim those as their capital. trump's announcement did not foreclose the possibility, it achieves little on the ground all the while offending millions of palestinians and public opinion almost everywhere. when china, european allies, the pope, the kings of saudi arabia and jordan all voice strong opposition it is worth questioning the wisdom of the policy. while many people predicted violence in the middle east. it's likely this will be contained. israel is the super power and its neighbors know it. it has tight control over the palestinian territories with the

network of intelligence operations. terrorism is a problem that has simply gone away. the real danger is that this decision only adds to the mounting despair of palestinians who already weak, divided. they barely have any leadership now and live in an almost unique condition in the modern world, citizens of no state without a country of their own. meanwhile, israel will continue to prosper economically and maintain its genuinely democratic character but with this one large caveat. it will rule over lands with millions of people who lack full political rights. that's the heart of israel's democratic system and culture might intensify as israeli arabs grow in number. there will be an israel that looks like switzerland. it's possible that at some point this inequality of income status

and political rights will lead to some kind of explosion. it will certainly lead to greater polarization and discord and america's action this week will have deepened these fishers and exacerbated those tensions. for more go to cnn.com/fareed and reed my washington post column this week and let's get started. ♪ >> let me bring in ours to continue on the controversial moves on jerusalem. richard hass is the author of "a world in disagray." and a member of the executive plo and former spokesman for the palestinians, she's joining us from ramallah. and israel's ambassador to the u.n., president of the jerusalem center for public affairs and joins us from los angeles. what do you think the effect of this decision will be? does it not sim supply ratify reality?

>> not at all. on the contrary, it undermines the chances of peace, totally destroys american creditability standing, influence and disqualifies from taking any role in peace making in the future and sends a message that you can impose unilaterally outside the law and get away with it. but if you commit to a negotiated settlement based on legality and justice then you get no compilation. this has moved the u.s. from being a so-called peace broker to becoming complicit with israel and its crime. israel has jerusalem legally in 1967 and has placed west jerusalem under its sovereignty in 1948 even though its legal status remains as separate. we have so-called peace broker that has taken sides blatantly and has rewarded impunity and has sold out the palestinian people as well as the chances of

peace and has succeeded and won to undermine the security and stability of the whole region. >> dory gold, isn't it fair to say that while this might provide some emotional satisfaction for israelis that it ratifies the sense of jerusalem as their capital which it is de facto? it does complicate at the very least perhaps threaten the peace process and any ultimate deal with the palestinians and feels like in return for the little emotional, if you're giving up a lot? >> i view it quite the opposite. i think in order for negotiations to succeed and i've been involved in a series of

negotiations to the why agreement and onward. there has to be -- you have to get the parties into what i call the box of realism. and unfortunately, those who have been engaged in peace negotiations on the palestinian side haven't been there. partly it's not their fault. partly it's the fault of the international community which has organizations which in may 2017 adopted yet another resolution which disqualified israel, cut off the historical and legal ties of israel to jerusalem.

and in a certain sense what president trump has done, he's introduced an important correction. i may say a brave correction in the whole history of unesco resolutions. they're based on political power exercised against the state of israel. >> richard hoss, can you split the difference on this? can you be -- >> in some ways this conversation raises the issue. why would you want to put jerusalem out there naked, alone at the beginning, as the engine rather than the caboose? the sense is it was going to be the most difficult issue to contend with as part of a final status. yes, it does recognize one side of reality, on the other hand, why would you do it in a isolated way.

hold that thought. we're going to come back and talk about what is bigger than the palestinian struggle and is now surpassing it. the cold war between iran and saudi arabia. is that now the key driver in the middle east? when we come back. ♪ give a little bit ♪ ♪ give a little bit... -hello. ♪ give a little bit... ♪ ... of your love to me oh, haha. ♪ there's so much that we need to share ♪ ♪ so send a smile and show that you care ♪ ♪ i'll give a little bit of my love to you ♪ booking a flight doesn't have to be expensive. just go to priceline. it's the best place to book a flight a few days before my trip and still save up to 40%. just tap and go... for the best savings on flights, go to priceline.

at t-mobile, when you holiday together, great things come in twos. like t-mobile and netflix. right now when you get an unlimited family plan, netflix is included. ho ho ho! t-mobile covers your netflix subscription... best christmas gift ever! ...so you can binge watch all year long. now you're thinking christmas! and now when you buy any of this season's hot new samsung galaxy phones, you get a second one free to gift. that's one samsung for you. and one to give. t-mobile. holiday twogether. the markets change... at t. rowe price... our disciplined approach remains.

global markets may be uncertain... but you can feel confident in our investment experience around the world. call us or your advisor... t. rowe price. invest with confidence.

this ♪s electricity. this is a power plant. this is tim barckholtz. that's me! this is something he is researching at exxonmobil: using fuel cells to capture carbon emissions at power plants. this is the potential.

reducing co2 emissions by up to 90%... while also producing more power. this could be big. energy lives here. we are back with richard hoss and dory gold. hanna, is it fair to say that the palestinian cause has never been particularly strongly championed by the arabs other than as a rhetorical matter and is even less central to the views of arabs? if you look at saudi arabia today, it seems to be in alliance with israel. because it is obsessed with iran. the palestinian issue has been thrown to the wayside completely. are you now really on the losing side of this new -- this next great power game in the middle east?

>> certainly the palestinian question is in a difficult position given the realities of the region. giving the transition we are undergoing and given the fact we have proxy wars in countries like syria and libya and since the war on iraq and now the war on yemen and since there is a new polarization attempting to create a sunni devise of the whole region. of course. deprive us of much support that we really need. i think that given also the fact that israel's impunity has

continued without any intervention, without any question, without any accountability, and destroying the two state solution by the way and given the fact that u.s. cover for israel has come out to collusion and destroyed the peace process, so now we find the palestinians have to turn inwards and look towards themselves to strengthen their ability to remain on the land and to withstand all these pressures and changes and on the other hand, to reach out to the international community for sources of protection and accountability for israel. so i would say yes, these changes are extremely -- i think the whole region is on the verge of serious transformations that are not necessarily positive. >> perhaps the palestinians will now move away from a two-state solution to a one-state solution to say all right if there are these millions of palestinians being denied full political rights, perhaps, what we need then, the palestinians would say simply voting rights within israel.

we have to be citizens of some country and we will take -- we ask them we begin citizenship in in israel. isn't that a real danger here if the two state solution evaporates that you will end up with a one state solution with a majority arab population? >> let me address what the real danger is in the middle east. but just to answer your specific question, i was the director general of the ministry of foreign affairs of israel and we had a very clear diplomatic doctrine. our doctrine was first, we seek to negotiate with our palestinian neighbors. second of all, we're prepared to reach a generous compromise with

our palestinian neighbors. third, we seek that any structure of a solution be based on cooperation between our two societies. between our two political entities and that's what we have been pushing. unfortunately we have gotten a flat no on all three of these fundamentals of our diplomatic doctrine. making it all the more complex is something you eluded to. the main diplomatic actor affecting the future of the middle east is a man by the name of general mati, the commander of the revolutionary guards. today iranian forces have boots on the ground in lebanon in syria, in yemen and in iraq. that is really what's changed the nature of the middle east and if there is a consensus among all of us who support stability and support progress, it is that this iranian role must be discontinued.

we hope that in our diplomacy and connections whether above the table or below the table we can put the middle east on a better footing to oppose iranian expansionism which is seeking to build a land bridge from iraq all the way to the mediterranean and a military presence in the areas in between. >> richard, could you imagine a one-state solution with palestinians demanding almost in a kind of gandhi-esque martin luther king way, look you have to give us some kind of rights, we live on this land, we control it. >> i can imagine people pushing for it but i don't think it could be a solution. israel can't be a secure jewish democratic state. some things have got to give. there's an irony to this whole conversation. people like me have sat on your show and criticized this administration for a lack of diplomacy towards north korea

and what they're doing to the state department. here you have a diplomatic initiative but it's the wrong one and going to make it more difficult for the united states to work with the saudis and others against the iranian and imperial push. we finally get diplomacy. the bad news, it's a counter productive example of it. >> they are saying you have just complicated our lives because it's hard for us to ally with you while you are being so seemingly one-sided. >> all these regimes sit uneasily on top of their populations. this is an issue that has potentially real popular interest and emotion and the saudis in particular are interested in consolidating power. this is just the sort of thing that might make it difficult for them to be seen by their own people to be cozying up to the united states. >> this and spending $500 million on a painting and $500 million in a few months. >> all in an anti-corruption campaign, yes.

it's hard to square that circle. >> thank you very much. fascinating conversation. next on the "gps," bill gates and warren buffett have as much wealth as the first half of the poorest population. so where does inequality come from historically? it seems to have started with big, strong horses and cattle. i will explain when we come back. haperson who opens it. ♪ give ancestrydna, the only dna test that can trace your origins to over 150 ethnic regions- and open up a world of possibilities. ♪ save 30% for the holidays at ancestrydna.com let's get the one with the candy canes. well, you know, the wrapping paper doesn't make the holidays. it's what's inside that counts. it's a phone for mom.

okay, well, it's also what's inside the phone that counts, too. circuits? no, the network. so the network is inside the phone? well, no, the network's around the phone. and verizon is the most awarded network ever. that's why more people count on it. here you go. (announcer) a gift is only as good as the network it's on. so give any google pixel 2 and get $300 off with no trade-in required.

we that's why at xfinityic. we've been working hard to simplify your experiences with us. now with instant text and email updates you'll always be up to date. you can easily add premium channels so you don't miss your favorite show. and with just a single word, find all the answers you're looking for. because getting what you need should be simple, fast, and easy. download the xfinity my account app or go online today. now for our "what in the world" segment. we told you on the show a few weeks ago how just three americans, bill gates, warren

buffett and jeff bezos have more wealth than the entire half of the united states population. the u.s. has the highest level of economic inequality in the entire world. the tax bill is probably only going to make things worse. it will further enrich families like donald trump's. now a new study published in the journal of nature gives us historical perspective going way back. a team of researchers led by timothy kohler used a very modern tool. it's a scale you might have heard of. developed by an italian statistician in the early 1900s it measures inequality on a scale of 0 to 1. in a group in which one individual has all the wealth and the others have nothing you have a score to 0.

the german bank has one of the most quoted scales out there ranking the united states as the most unequal nation with a score of 8.1. germany is 0.73. russia is at 0.69. south korea with a 0.54. china with a 0.53. all far from totally equal which would be 0. so the team applied it to archeological data from 63 societies, some dating back 11,000 years to the beginning of the new stone age when society started to settle down the permanent structures and plant crops. few records were drawn from this period and some archeological sites were better preserved than others but what they all had were the remains of houses. big ones for richer people, smaller ones for their poor neighbors. what the research suggests is fascinating.

before advent of agriculture which is recent in the long perspective of human history, there was very little inequality. societies had low median scores. 0.17. then the domestication of animals. especially the large ones that did all the heavy farming work. so if you had oxen or horses you were a much more efficient farmer, thus you could sell more crops and get richer. you would by more horses or oxen or plow more fields and get even richer and leave it all to your children. the farmers who could not afford animals were left behind. it often perpetuated itself. modern societies found ways to break the cycle. through capitalism which allowed bright and successful people to rise up.

but this new elite has found ways of perpetuating itself by stacking the deck in its favor as the tax bill does. the greatest inequality that was found was a 0.68. an egyptian settlement. he studied the rise and fall of societies had some words of warning for us. if we become to unequal violence and state collapse could follow. next on gps, my exclusive interview with the secretary general of the united nations on jerusalem, north korea and his relations with president trump. next on "gps," my interview on jerusalem, north korea and his relations with president trump. . don't forget, go to cnn.com/fareed for a link to my itunes podcast. without t-shirts.

- [narrator] custom ink t-shirts have this incredible power to bring people together for families, school groups, reunions, and companies big and small. so for your next gathering or event, visit customink.com. our design lab has tons of fonts, colors, and amazing artwork to choose from. you can even upload your own logo, and we'll help make it perfect. check out our huge selection of custom t-shirts and more. you'll even get free shipping. get started today at customink.com.

it was almost exactly 70 years ago the united nations passed resolution 181 that calls for the city of jerusalem to be a separate entity under international control. after fighting the following year, 1948, jordan took control of the city's east while israel got the western part. in 1967 israel rested control of the entire city. two years following that original resolution, antonio manuel was born in lisbon. a life-long activist, serves as the secretary general of the u nated nations. on wednesday after the president's announcement, gutierrez said we were in a moment of great anxiety. i sat down with him in the chambers of the u.n. security council. >> mr. secretary general, pleasure to have you on.

>> all a pleasure to be here with you. >> what do you think is the danger of president trump's recognition of jerusalem? you spoke out with some concern about it. >> well, you know, i was quite open in relation to the efforts of president trump was making. with his team. to try to bring israel and palestinians to accept a solution. in the past we had several times a peace process. but they would break and worse than what they were and i think president trump had intuition the best would be to try to negotiate the full package. i know that kushner and others were involved in this dialogue with the palestinians and israelis and there was hope that it would be possible.

there was a hope that it would be possible to finally bring this conflict between israelis and palestinians to an end. the decision that was taken wednesday risks to compromise this effort and if that is the case it will be a pity because it will be so important to find a solution to this crisis. in my opinion it must be a two-state solution but it is so important for this crisis. >> you said you were hopeful and even impressed by some of the things president trump was saying to you i imagine on the israeli/palestinian side. on many other issues, he has seemed to take a very negative view of international institutions, multilateralism, global agreements. he's pulled out of the paris accords, defunding or pulling

out of u.s. funding of unesco. do you think this is the united states turning its back on institutions like the u.n. that it created after world war ii? >> well, i think that there is a vision that is expressed in the sentence america first. the vision that the interests of the american people are best protected by the u.s. and itself and that international organizations do not contribute much to it and many of the global issues of today are irrelevant for the interest of the american people. i believe it's not true. u.s. is too big and too relevant to be able to think it alone. the way it seems happening in the world is a very important impact as the way things happen in the united states. so it is very important for the world and the united states that the u.s. engages in climate action, migration and engages in addresses crisis like palestinian where the role of the u.s. can be extremely important. leverage to have pressure on the

conflicts in order to be able to make them understand that it's necessary to stop those conflicts. in the end, what is clear is that wherever the u.s. doesn't occupy the space someone else will do and this in the end will be detrimental to american interests and the lack of capacity to have stabilizing in the crises we have and so linked to problems of global terrorism. to engage in the affairs impacts negatively on the security of any people including the american people.

>> when the united states steps back, others step forward and naturally their interests and values might be different. i feel as though you are already seeing this with the rise of china, with china saying it's more than happy to play a larger role. of course, you have a certain amount happening with russia. is that dynamic already accelerating? different countries are trying to assert themselves in different ways and not only the big powers, like china or russia. you see, the influence of countries like iran and turkey. so this is a world that became difficult to predict where unpredictability and impunity are the new rules of the game and that is why american influence is so important as a

stabilizing factor. the truth is that for a country like china, that has a very clear, long-term strategy, china has a chance to become the largest economic power in the world in the near future and it's clear that wherever the united states leaves some space, china will occupy it from the development point of view for a look at geostatistic conversations and whenever the u.s. withdrawals, russia, iran, saudi arabia, will consider that as an opportunity for them. so it's obvious for me that from the point of view of the international community as a whole that the fact that the united states does not engage in this situation is not positive, makes things less predictable and from the point of the view of the united states, i think it also represents a threat in the long term because we live in a

world where the dangers are real for all of us. with the questions about the future of the relationship between the u.s. and iran and the relationship two the nuclear question, i think that there is a risk that nonproliferation enters in the near future. so, again, and we forgot about this since the cold war, a nuclear threat. if we look at the global middle east, now it's not the only iraq crisis, everything is now interlinked. you have the memory of the cold war still, the u.s. and russia relationship and the palestinian question and the shia sunni and all of these contradictions are now directing with each other and becoming very dangerous and then we have climate change and

i believe when the world is facing this kind of threats, it's very important to come together, it's very important that a country like the united states plays a constructive and engaged role. next on "gps," i'll be right back with my interview with secretary gutierrez. we'll talk about the world's problem, north korea.

(phone) maddie... you have everything you need right inside you. 9 out of 10 u.s. olympians grew up drinking milk. it's got natural protein and balanced nutrition to help your kids grow strong and milk life.

guess what i just got? ♪ ♪ hello again. hi. ♪ ♪ get up to $400 towards a galaxy note8 or s8 with qualifying trade-in. only on samsung.com

when the united nations' secretary general sat down in the security chamber, our backdrop was a stunning mural about a norwegian artist. it's said to represent the world rising from the ashes of war to an era of peace. it was a fitting place to perhaps talk about the drums of war that are starting to sound between north korea and the

united states. the general feeling is that north korea's situation is atten impasse. there's no good military option. that north koreans seem determined to acquire a large and robust nuclear capacity. they already have it in many senses. and the only country that could do something about it is china, which will not cut off the fuel supplies because they worry about a collapse. if that's the reality, is there a solution or is the world going to have to live with a nuclear north korea which may have an arsenal in a few years larger than great britain? >> i say hope is the last thing we can afford to lose. there is a very important factor here. of course, it has not yet solved the problem but it's clear that there's a very large pressure over north korea and i think north koreans are feeling it. if that unity is maintained and i strongly hope it's maintained,

i think it's also going to pavement way for a diplomatic initiative to be possible. i don't think china controls north korea. i think north korea became an entity in itself. but i think for the north koreans, there's a question of survival that is very important and my belief is that if the unity is maintained, north korea can be forced to come to a meaningful dialogue with the united states. that is probably the only power that they fear and have paved the way for the denuclearization and i believe a diplomatic solution is a way to achieve it without a level of danger that, again, would be unpredictable in its consequences if a military option would be taken. >> you were the commissioner for

refugees and we look at the situation for refugees around the world, which is really the worst it's ever been since world war ii. the trump administration's new travel ban has just been okayed by the supreme court. what do you say to the american administration, which appears that the united states already takes very few refugees and appears to be closing its doors even to that small number? >> what i say to europe or to countries in the north, in general, is that it is essential to re-establish the integrity of the refugee protection regime. that is basically international law and it's essential to understand that its refugees are not terrorists, they are the first of terror and there are those that flee because of the action of terrorists and that when one looks at countries like jordan or lebanon that have

received millions of refugees or kenya and uganda, i think it's very important that developed world to have our share. to receive also a meaningful number of refugees. and there are ways in relation to registration and to screening and to be able to detect those situations in which there could be a security risk. i have to say my experience is looking for other ways to move. the refugee movement is so scrutinized it is not the best opportunity from that point of view. they are doing effective screening and get into the security. to the developed world. be more generous to refugees and

be willing to share the contribution that comes in like the ones i mentioned and that will be in my opinion a very important factor to increase peace and stability. >> you mentioned that you felt the world was getting more chaotic and not so much multiple. do you worry that the chaos is getting to the point where it's turning into anarchy? >> let's hope not. i think the of the united nations is to avoid it. they are sitting in the room and as its primary mission to preserve peace and security. we have seen that in the divisions that they made it difficult. it's our role to do everything possible to avoid these rather unured situation and make the

terrible dangers to become much worse. it's time for people who understand what divides the countries is much less than the vital interest to preserve global security and to address challenges like climate change. >> mr. secretary general, a pleasure to have you on. thank you very much. >> next on gps, the state of terror around the world. are terror attacks and deaths in decline or do we have an upswing? we can tell but the trends. it's what's inside that counts. it's a phone for mom. okay, well, it's also what's inside the phone that counts, too. circuits? no, the network. so the network is inside the phone? well, no, the network's around the phone. and verizon is the most awarded network ever. that's why more people count on it. here you go. (announcer) a gift is only as good as the network it's on. so give any google pixel 2 and get $300 off

with no trade-in required.

anif you've got a lifee. you gotta swiffer ♪ this holiday, the real gift isn't what's inside the box. it's what's inside the person who opens it. ♪ give ancestrydna, the only dna test that can trace your origins to over 150 ethnic regions- and open up a world of possibilities. ♪ save 30% for the holidays at ancestrydna.com

$107.00 at...doggie lovers warehouse? [woman] an alert from wells fargo? no. i would never. "doggie lovers"? please! you know me. i don't even know where that is! look, i'm replying deny. see? oh, come on! [phone rings] hello? wells fargo. i did not make that purchase. i didn't do it! i'm so glad you caught that. uh huh.

or a little internet machine? [ phone rings ] it makes you wonder. shouldn't we get our phones and internet from the same company? that's why xfinity mobile comes with your internet. you get up to 5 lines of talk and text at no extra cost. so all you pay for is data. choose by the gig or unlimited. and ask how to get a $200 prepaid card when you buy any new samsung device with xfinity mobile. a new kind of network designed to save you money. click, call or visit today.

the success of the make america great again has beenput into numbers. a new pew study found that 41% of americans feel life in the u.s. is now worse than it was 50 years ago while only 37% feel it's better. the global survey assessed the mood in other countries. it brings me to my question. which nation strongly believes the life to be better than it was 50 years ago. vietnam, turkey, germany or india? stay tuned and we will tell you the correct answer. this week's book of the week is rescue. this is a powerful book, part memoire and part urgent plea that we take a look at the plight of refugees around the world. it's holiday season so read the book and let it move you to some action. now for the last look. more than 300 people were recently murdered in an egyptian

mosque. when the president retweeted videos from an ultra right group, they justified the tweets by saying -- >> whether it's a real video, the threat is real. >> it is actually diminishing. let's look at the numbers. the the world saw a 13% decline in the number of terror-related deaths last year according to the most recent index. the largest improvement was in nigeria where deaths decreased by 80%. four of the five countries was heavily impacted and record a reduction in the countries that are long with iraq and accounted for three quarters of all terrorism deaths. isis was active in iraq and the group increased by 49%.

the report does note another increase. the number of countries that experience a terror death increaseed from 2015 to 2016. overall the people were killed in terrorist attacks around the entire world last year. each of those deaths is a tragedy. but the numbers should be kept in perspective. after all, cdc data shows more than 38,000 people in america alone died from gun-related injuries last year. the answer to my gps challenge question is a, 88% of vietnamese people found life to be better than it was 50 years ago with only 4% saying it is worse. vietnam's booming economy can take part of the credit and bear in mind that 2017 minus 50 equals 1967. that year the u.s. military stepped up efforts to crush the i have et kong, escalating the

violence of the vietnam war. on the other end, venezuelans were the most pessimistic with only 10% saying in their country was better. thanks to all of you for being part of my program this week. see you next week. >> thanks for joining me on a sunday afternoon. i'm dave briggs. just two more days until alabama voters go to the polls, both candidates in the vinyl sprint for votes. president trump stumping for republican roy moore and even recorded a robo call for moore's campaign des pate molestation allegations facing moore today. he claims he doesn't even know the women making the accusations. >> i do not know any of the women who charged me with sexual allegations. molestation. i did not