>> these are the top stories, the u.s. top court has rejected a bid from the state of texas to overturn president trump's election loss. it sought to throw out the results in four key states. several challenges have been raised and rejected. and we have more details from washington. >> texas has not demonstrated a judicially recognized in which another state conducts its elections and all pending

motions are moot this in reference to a large number of states that are trying to reverse the election results and president trump himself wanted to join this particular case, but the court has said texas has no standing. >> the united states is set to follow the u.k. the white house is piling on the the f.d.a. and americans could get the vaccine in a few days. whether the effectiveness of its vaccine can be boosted when combined with russia. they are expected to do it in the coming weeks. biden has unveiled five top picks. new evidence in the case of italian student tortured and murdered in egypt.

video obtained indicate that for the first time the 28-year-old researcher was being monitored in egypt. italian prosecutors will charge four. and the trump administration is pushing a plan with billion dollar armed sale by morocco. and will have precision guided weapons and drones. this is a day after the white house announced it had brokered a deal for morocco to normalize its relations. coming is "inside story," next.

>> be drail for palestinians, morocco will rehifere establish ties with israel and reward is the sovereignty over the western sahara. how does this boost morocco's story? this is "inside story." welcome to the program. morocco is joining three other nations in recognizing the state of israel and establishing full diplomatic ties. the trump administration negotiated the four deals in a quid pro quo style. it came in exchange of a u.s. proclamation. and automatically sidelining

decades of united nations' efforts. we'll get to our discussion in a moment but this moment from stefan knee. >> the announcement came in a presidential tweet and massive break-through. morocco and israel agreeing. it is another victory. morocco follows in recognizing israel. >> this is the foundation on which we can now build this peaceful and resume the offices between israel and morocco and work as respectedly as possible. we institute direct flights between morocco and israel giving this bridge of peace and even more solid foundation. this will be a very warm peace. >> the trump administration has gone against decades of u.s.

policy. western sahara has been disputed between morocco and the pro independents. >> it is the first country in the world that there were over 65 countries leaning to the future and siding with morocco and only the united states has recognized the claim of the u.n. process that has been going on for a long time now and sidelining the international law concerns, the population of the sahara and the populations in order to get this deal done before the trump administration goes. >> the palestinians have condemned the agreement and said it is another country to break the promise. more and more arab countries are establishing ties with israel.

it seems to fade further and further away. and hailed as another victory for israel and this administration has little more than a month left in office. >> let's bring in our guests in new york, a partner with the truman national project and president of public affairs e.j. strategies. and strategic affairs analyst and in bare route, director of global engagement at the university of beirut. let me start with you. this normalization deal between morocco and israel has been discussed for a while now, but how much of a shock was morocco's deal was clinched in return for american recognition

over the disputed western sahara region? >> i think morocco has had relations in relation to the oslo accords and they had relations and walked away from the spirit and letter of the oslo accords. but now is the right moment for that to resume while extended that morocco is very friendly and has good relations with the palestinians. the king of morocco is the president of the committee of jerusalem. i don't think it is walking away from the palestinians but the country could have leverage with both and to morocco. and also has very important influence with israel but also

has very good relations with the palestinians. i think it is good for the peace because the peace has experiments with a lot of things, like war and different kinds of the peace accords and maybe this kind of approach would bear fruit. but i don't think those who say that recognizing or like normalizing the relationships with israel with the palestinians and i don't agree with that. it will provide them with that to happen. and i think morocco has the recognition of the united states and the western sahara who are going to talk about that. but calling the peace process in the middle east, we need to be creative and need to have new solutions and new realities and those realities will help with probably like bridging the

peace. when the king called the palestinian leader yesterday and he said like morocco will stay committed with the palestinians about a two-state solution in 1967 and jerusalem should be capital of the two countries. morocco isn't getting away from that but normalizing relations. a lot of other countries, they. >> winning u.s. recognition in morocco sovereign has been a chief policy demand for a long time, hasn't it? >> it seems to be the biggest issue that it faces the region. it is a long standing tension with the immediate neighbors and the europeans. the u.n. has not taken steps to

allow the people of morocco so this was a big deal. and in a sense, they played their hand very well, knowing that donald thrump is all about transactions and wants to get his name more attached to good deals particularly on the international stage in the waning days of his presidency. they took what was their main diplomatic goal and re-established something that was in existence 20 years ago for getting a huge win. the people of morocco come out very well. >> how much does this deal benefit israel and how much does it benefit morocco? >> well, i don't think it really benefits anybody except the united states. the people of morocco have held

their views on the western saharave. there is a process in the u.n. that has not been implemented and very difficult and has to deal with self-determination. if the leadership feel this is good for their country we don't know what the people feel because those public opinion views are not clearly expressed. so it is hard to tell what it does except browney points with a slightly delusional that is leading the stage now. highly discredited around the world and using its power to free criminals in jail in washington or indicted people in washington or help the israelis and therefore favors back to pro-israely donors in the united states. this is a transactional process. it doesn't rilly benefit anybody

in a significant way because anybody who has knowledge of the israelis and palestinians and trump knows that the public relations gestures more than anything else. they don't have any serious impact on the situation on the ground. they are a consequence of the lack of movement by the yellies to accept international law and lead their people towards an honorable peace. and there was a presence in morocco that the first arab peace plan was prid and the arabs have expressed a willingness to live in full peace with israel without having to do side deals on the quiet. this isn't not a really serious move but a public relations for the americans and israelis and

don't know what impact it will have in morocco but we will have to wait and see. >> the relationship between israel and morocco and how long it has been warming. what have the informal ties between morocco and israel been like in >> let me address about the impacts on morocco and seeing the's racks -- reaction of the people of morocco and the western sahara issue is sensitive. it is the one issue that is very highly sensitive for the public opinion here in morocco. and i think their support of palestinians have been like and also for the sahara the two most important priorities. to answer your question, i think

the moroccan who left in 1961, 1967, make up hundreds of thousands of jews living in israel and never kept their ties between israel and morocco. they come back for vacation. and that has been going on for the last 20-something years, 25 years or so. and in the governments were eight ministers that were moroccans. and morocco would have a lot of jews. and i think that has paved a lot of the you for yeah for the accords like in the 1990's and like the scene from the reaction from the jewish community around the world and people are sending

messages that are elated by this and elated for two reasons, for of them for the jews because it is easier to come to morocco and also because of this kind of historic recognition of the united states of the sovereignty of morocco over the sahara. it is watershed. it will be the game for a lot of the recognitions and there have been a lot of countries that have consulates. the united states will open one one as well. so i think it is watershed and the solution of the western sahara in favor of morocco. >> how much does u.s. of moroccan soncht undercut the independence and could this

recognition by the u.s. fuel instability there? how dramatically could things escalate? >> things could escalate a great deal. we have seen some instigation and fighting that has largely been peaceful. the big question is whether or not president-elect biden when he takes office continues to recognize the western sahara as part of morocco. senator inhofe gave a bliss earling speech and saying biden is going around world opinion. any independence movement that exists is going to face one of two options. they could continue to seek their own independence seeking international bodies like the u.n. or worst case scenario go

back to armed conflict which everyone hopes doesn't happen but you never know what happens when people's backs are up against the wall. >> the u.s. is the only one to recognize moroccan sahara and would biden reverse trump's decision or would he affirm it? >> it's hard to tell, political decisions made by politicians like biden are hard to predict. politicians react to different sthri to calculations that have to deal with affairs. my suspicion is biden respects international law and u.n. decisions. so it is unlikely that he will

support this move. he might freeze it. do nothing to overturn it, but just freeze it and not make it a dynamic process or he might try to push for renewed u.n. role to really get something going on there that could implement the self-determination refer dumb. these are hard things to -- referen dumb. these are thard things to predict. these are driven by self-interest by few people in the white house. this is not a national american policy. the world looks at what trump is doing, especially now that he is leaving. so i wouldn't attach that importance. the united states is not the world's moral authority. it has lost its credibility around the world. what it is doing in the western

sahara and what happens will be determined by the people in western sahara and those will remain to be seen but similar what is being done in the golan heights and west bank where the united states under trump takes a dramatic move which goes against all international law and global and political consensus. i wouldn't put -- i wouldn't attach too much importance what the americans did. we have to wait until the middle of the next year and international reaction and other places will become more clear. >> according to a moroccan royal king statement, said hamas stands by a two-state solution and the king added that the negotiations between israelis

and the palestinians are the only way to reach a solution to the conflict. what is this normalization deal do when it comes to the position of the palestinians going forward? >> that is one issue that the interest over western sahara. it has been a congress and bill passed by congress in 2013 and signed by president obama in 2014 which allows that the aid that gets to morocco through u.s. aid could be spent in western sahara. our country did not do that before and the united states opened that kind of venue and there has been a lot of nigeria because that is a defacto recognition over western sahara. european union signed treaties

with morocco that included western sahara. before it refused to do that and that is defact hoy ho of western sahara. morocco spends by the agenda and by international law that the demark asal lines in 1967 is the only line that exists between the two-state solution and is the only solution and jerusalem is the capital of the palestinian states. and the that kind of negotiation. and i think that what is happening now, between the palestinians and israelis in terms of reopening the channels comes also because of this kind of momentum created by the fact that some other countries have recognized israel and pushing in

the right kind of direction and negotiation between the israelis and palestinians. >> what do you make of the moroccan's reaction. it was perhaps a bit more muted. and moroccan first said they were committed to not opening embassies and consulates and open up diplomatics solutions, what does that suggest? >> we have seen polling going back and a poll recently done in the last six or seven months that approval of more ocka is approval and any recognition of israel may not be so-called street in morocco. downplaying the role is a smart move politically domestic-wise

and on the foreign policy front, it continues to at least in some ways keep pressure on the israelis to do something on the palestinian front. the primary diplomatic tool that the palestinians have had since the oslo accord is that united support of the arab league, the 22 nation of the arab league who signed onto the saudi plan in 2002 that there would be no recognition or normalization until the lines were drawn in jerusalem for the palestinians. as each one of these arab countries like u.a.e. and having that united block behind them. and saudi arabia has not taken more outward normalization steps and morocco is keeping hope

alive for the palestinians that they still have the support of some of their arab allies and at the same time the white house was so ecstatic about this decision by the moroccans that didn't go as far as the normalization ties could signal that saudi could do something similar that it is not a full agreement, but something like half of a love. i don't believe that saudis in a position to do that. i don't think the king will allow that to happen. but is a lot of time that those of us who live in the west that until biden takes office that a lot of strange things unprecedented that the last four years have been, could take place in the next 30 days. >> do you have a reaction to what he was saying.

and expand a bit what he was talking about. donald trump has not been able to get saudi arabia to do this. does this deal with morocco make it easier for morocco to sign onto the idea? >> i don't think so. it was only the military side that agreed to do it and civilian side has criticized. you have 3 1/2 leps that have done this and the people of these countries don't have the task to express their free opinion to a large extent. we know from the surveys that we just heard that public opinion is strongly supportive of palestine, but is willing to live with israel if israel agrees to a palestinian state and ends the occupation. so the saudis, i think, are more

sensitive to this sentiment than we might think and versus the crown prince in saudi arabia, the difference in age and generation. and the saudis see themselves as keepers of the sunni islamic identity around the world. so they feel constraints on them that other constraints don't. in the final analysis, we have to say these are decisions by a handful of men who are not politically accountable to their people and rely on international support, military security and economic and other support, diplomatic and we should not mistake these agreements for serious changes in the political environment. what these agreements do indicate is the combined

incompetence and illegitimate si of the palestinian leadership. the palestinian leadership has been a catastrophe for the palestinians over the last 10, 15 years. you can argue they did well up to 2010, but it's a catastrophe ever since and the inability of the palestinian leadership to lead the palestinians to a decent place has allowed this kind of deals to be made by individual arab leaders who feel they have nothing to lose when they do this and they have a lot to gain when the americans give them diplomatic goodies or sell them fancy arms and money in sudan. these are transactional short-term agreements done by a desperate american administration as it leaves office trying to score some good

points with arab leaders who don't really have any cans built to their people and therefore can do whatever they want. >> we have run out of time. we have to leave the conversation there. thank you so much to our guests. thank you for watching. see the program any time by visiting our website and for further discussion go to our facebook page. you can join the conversation on twitter. for the whole team here, bye for now. xxxxxxdñoooooooooooooo