to a one in russia's capital moscow this is our team i'm sean thomas let's get right to your top stories palestine's bid for recognition is taking central stage at the u.n. general assembly currently underway in new york more than one hundred thirty countries including russia have already said they would support the move for statehood this is despite repeated warnings from the u.s. that it would veto any such attempt or brings us more from the assembly. at this moment the palestinians are still moving forward with their campaign for a un membership now this is despite the speech that was given by u.s. president barack obama obama addressed the international community saying that peace in the middle east can only come from direct negotiations between the palestinians and the israelis and kind of statements or resolutions from the united nations would help a peace agreement obama encouraged all members of the general assembly to talk to

the palestinians and the israelis and convince them to get back to the negotiation table the majority u.n. members do support the palestinian bid for u.n. membership and statehood but the u.s. has publicly said it would be no this move if it had to would cast a veto and that would the palestinians from becoming members of the united nations now russian foreign minister sergei lavrov did speak with the press saying that of course direct negotiations is what is wanted but the u.s. should not use its veto to block the aspirations of the palestinians or thousand of any other country so at this point the u.s. by casting a veto risks losing support and credibility among the arab world because remember president obama supported the tunisians the egyptians the libyans during the arab spring he has spoken out in support of those that are are demonstrating against the leaders of syria and he also mentioned last year that he supports an independent

and sovereign palestine so now to turn around and do something different and not stand by his words he's actually facing a quite a conundrum the u.s. president did meet privately with the israeli prime minister benjamin netanyahu and he will be meeting with the palestinian president president mahmoud abbas and from what we are being told there are plans in place to prevent any kind of diplomatic train wreck and that plan would be for the palestinian president to. officially submit a letter to the security council asking for u.n. membership but the security council wouldn't vote on it right away this would allow a little leverage it would allow time for the mideast quartet which is the european union russia the u.s. and the u.n. to try to convince israel and palestine to get back to the negotiation table and this way it doesn't put anybody in a bad position because if there's a vote in the general assembly israel will likely be isolated if the u.s. casts a veto it will face heavy criticism on among the arab world but if the president of

palestine backs away from this campaign he could face heavy criticism from all the palestinians and all of the states around the world that are supporting his campaign for u.n. membership so right now there are talks about how everyone can get out of this saving face but as of now people are working round the clock to see how the story will develop. reporting there from new york and while palestinian leaders are battling for u.n. recognition in new york thousands of palestinians have poured onto the streets across the west bank in support schools businesses and government offices have been shut down during the day marked by fear of celebration archies post leader brings us more from the city of ramallah. at this tomato that some twenty thousand people have taken to the speech of my life people took off work the schools closed early and meaningful businesses shut down i'm standing in all manav which is really the focal point of the milo and in this area the businesses the shops in the

restaurants have been opened so that people can really celebrate what's almost a clown of the atmosphere now this doesn't kick start three days of peaceful demonstrations of the palestinians on the spot says they will cease holding in the run up to the palestinian president mahmoud abbas making their bid on friday for statehood at the united nations we've seen some of the such celebrations across the west bank in hebron there were an estimated seventeen thousand people turning out to parties and carnivals isolated incidents of violence that did change it will have the potential to modern day one in kalandia checkpoint not far from here it was also a little bit of violence in hebron the both of those who've been able to control the israeli army certainly has been preparing for violence but what many say is that almost in this paper ration it's almost encouraging if one can say that the violence has happened what simple month israeli army has been undergoing an operation called operation from the scene and this is for this fear that these peaceful demonstrations of the palestinians say they will fold could erupt into

stained into violence but their eyes not only on the palestinians the israeli army also has a i have a meet roughly half a million israeli citizens there were a number of demonstrations by israeli states and across the west bank in the fifty's themselves adamant that they will not allow the palestinians to do what they say take over their land. the u.s. president has already said that the palestinians do deserve a state but this would come only through direct talks with israel but palestinian journalist. says that the jewish state's influence stretches far into capitol hill . the real problem of the past at the scene is the be facing with israeli prime minister netanyahu is dates back to the first to the day when he was when he was when he appeared in the congress and then he delivered his historical speech and the never the three or four minutes the members of the congress would just stand up and applaud what he said and that was a message from the twenty out obama to sure showing him that who is really the boss

in washington and it seems that nothing else since then has been intoxicated with this kind of victory achieved in the congress and has been there and has been behaving in a very intense into a not listening to the palestinians not listening even to the american envoys who have reached who have come to the region for so many times on hunt dozens of i would say this is one of the reasons why i started has gone to the united nations will be looking for is a partner in his red book and that they are believed to be the robot that fatness up to this moment the problem is the lack of cooperation on the israeli side netanyahu went on with the settlement activities not only in the west bank but also in east jerusalem blowing up every chance of reaching an agreement with the palestinians and this is the what could. rallies in support of the palestinian bid have taken place not only in the west bank hundreds of orthodox jews took to the streets of new york demanding the israeli government recognize palestine as an independent state mass demonstrations have also been observed across the atlantic

with people gathering in london urging the prime minister to reach out a helping hand to the palestinians parties more emigrants the details. the debates between the israelis and the palestinians has come head to downing street on wednesday at that point the pats handed a petition to prime minister david cameron saying that he should support the palestinian authority's bid for recognition by the nice it makes it david cameron of course will go that that's what's the end of this week to talk about the situation in the middle east the group behind me say that un recognition for the palestinian authority is the only way to then ensure further negotiations then actually state solution and peace in the region the great thing that a person should force that recognition palestinian state as a part if they continue to build cities david he said i speak to some of the i think the chinese that petition downing street his workmates. represent the views of things up and down the country who overwhelmingly the you got survey citizens of

the u.k. supporting palestine's right to existence and self-determination my message should david cameron the british government owes it to the palestinians there is a more and this sort of responsibility for the british government because you were mandating us for in the in the fourth is you have created this it office and it is about time that you have to settle for this time here in place in haiti a hundred m.p.'s of whom coal seam have signed a motion calling on the u.k. to back the recognition of a palestinian state by the un and if that comes here in this country say that sixty percent roundabout of u.k.b.a. to believe that palestine should be wrecked. no i says the stakes in its own right and that they get increases in fronts and in germany but despite that that none of these governments have yet come out in support of recognizing the stimulus thinks it's cool see the world bank the e.u. and the i.m.f. but the west bank very grand the palestinian authority and judged it to be ready

for statehood it remains to be seen what will happen at the un's would get to this week and indeed whether david cameron will take this position detention recognize it and put it into full. of his lore i met there in england now the u.s. is israel's the biggest supporter at the un but america's backing of the arab spring risks leaving its main middle east ally in total isolation artes and he said no explains. democracy has a price the people of egypt have spoken. their voices have been heard and egypt will never be the same and the new egypt embraced as a positive example of change in the arab world by the west is not the only one paying for what they did the revolution bring us you know i think doing good here times there was a bit of security but now there's this security on the streets israel has also been

left hanging a slow road to stability in neighboring egypt mixed with the massively unpopular israeli foreign policy makes a dangerous cocktail. that pace for change towards those disputation was very slow so you had a lot of frustration on one side and then you had a lot of anger that. exacerbated after the killing of the five protection soldiers on egyptian territory by israeli gunfire. shaking up the situation even further the recent attack on the israeli embassy in cairo protesters threw stones and stormed the building as a military police stood by and watched for hours three demonstrators were killed and over a thousand injured. michel that's it this situation can get worse for israel not for us which is starting to get stronger this is not a negative thing for us but a plus. the protester who took down the israeli flag at the embassy in

august was hailed as egypt's new super hero flagman a ball was then built to protect the embassy but completely destroyed by protesters . this is what remains i doubt that but ever have behind all repercussions emergency omega is now being enforced here in egypt suffocating it's already asserted freedom and in the region the u.s. is strongest ally facing security threats as this new democracy is stuck in a spiral. certainty instability and sometimes chaos. benyamin netanyahu called the incident a near disaster being the bird it might have a lot more work to do to avoid catastrophe in the future israel should worry about look at what's happening in to give egypt two very important states in the area which used to have not only peace but friendship with israel today to be at odds with theirs and it's number one friend seems to be having trouble keeping

a balance comes to promoting arab democracy and protecting israel's security it must occur to netanyahu and others at this point that certainly be americans are holding the says and have all the cards up their sleeve so so i think that is something that must weigh heavily on on israel it is because when it comes down to it the u.s. tends to protect one thing in the end the basic problem you know i think with the americans and with the western civilization chaining general the way they're handling things is that it's become too much about interests not not really about humanity or about anything else it's really become about interests and when interest is the main driver of things become messy and egypt could become a mess that israel wants to live in peace now a r t cairo. well plenty more for you this hour including an insight into an afghanistan drenched in

drugs. party looks at how afghan narcotics not only pollute the rest of the world but how almost every family there was touched by drugs. and in the u.s. of the state of georgia is preparing to execute a man convicted of murder despite pleas for clemency from the pope and a former f.b.i. chief. the international monetary fund has issued a grave warning for the global financial outlook the most severe since two thousand . made the lending giant is pessimistic over world growth unless u.s. and the euro zone lawmakers act quickly meanwhile a greek official has announced of the country is ramping up budget cuts and planning to suspend more civil servants to secure vital i.m.f. and cash without the eight billion euro bailout the country will default next month as comes as european commission inspectors plan to return to athens to assess the progress in reducing death investment advisor patrick young believes the greek

economy is basically going down the drain. greece is now in such a debt spiral that it's really well it's like one of those world war one if the asian films that we've all seen where when they get the tail of the fighter suddenly goes down in flames firing into the ground unfortunately there's nothing the greeks can do at the moment until they've had a really really gruesome economic shock if they're going to maintain themselves in the euro and i personally don't know but they really can maintain themselves in the euro because i don't think the greek people are prepared for the fall in their cost of everything in the overall standard of living because it's absolutely horrific we are on the verge of seeing an witnessing in our lifetime the death of the west as a prosperous economic entity they've been in the ascendant for five hundred years annoying after two hundred fifty years old basically being at the absolute peak of their powers we see

a situation where italy is crashing and burning it too has no tangible political leadership silvio berlusconi unfortunately has ended up looking like a liability in office and the people are rest of they're not willing to take the cuts that they need to balance the budget. the u.s. state of georgia is about to execute a death row inmate using lethal injection for the one nine hundred eighty nine murder of an off duty policeman the state denied a final request for a lie detector test lawyers a last ditch attempt to save troy davis no murder weapon was ever found and no d.n.a. evidence conclusively linked davis to the shooting seven out of the nine witnesses have recanted their testimony since davis going to the support of over one million people worldwide including a former f.b.i. chief ex-president jimmy carter and pope benedict the sixteenth and misty international declared georgia has discredited the justice system and will end the life of an innocent man journalist and human rights activist deborah do pray says

that the execution that will be a crime in itself. this is unconscionable that the georgia board of pardons and paroles has denied relief to troy davis that sending a man to death under such doubt about his guilt is just an out ready just and it puts every american at risk if this can happen to troy davis it could happen to anybody and the fact that he's been tortured for twenty years and that's what being in solitary confinement is just another violation that the united states is committing we have one hundred thousand people on death row that's big business for the prison industry one hundred thousand people are being tortured daily by being in solitary confinement and then the final execution it is just an atrocity that this country should be leading the world in showing that we do not do this. there are plenty more stories for you on our website at r.t. dot com online for you right now. iran claims it's

a developed in the air defense system that even surpasses russia's state of the art technology. and one in a remote place in the arctic to adopt a different approach to the concept of commuting all these stories and much much more on our web page at r.t. dot com. and a brief look at some other news making headlines from around the world. violence broke out between police and immigrants are fleeing an overcrowded holding center on the italian island of lampedusa officers in riot gear used clubs against detained refugees making a break for freedom the island has been overwhelmed by more than forty thousand tunisians and libyans fleeing unrest back home. two american men jailed in iran on charges of spying have been freed after two years of incarceration and are on a plane headed to the arab state of oman before bail was secured shane bauer and josh fattal had both been facing eight years in prison they say they mistakenly

crossed into iran while trekking in northern iraq in july two thousand and nine. security forces have fired mortars at anti-government protesters in the yemeni capital sanaa killing at least three people fighting broke out at a cease fire agreed on tuesday after three days of bloodshed almost seventy five people have died since sunday when a crackdown on protests was renewed all this despite reports that the vice president is considering a transfer of power a key demand from demonstrators. hundreds have gathered in kabul to mourn the assassination of former afghan president who being rabani the key figure in the current peace talks with the taliban it was killed at home by a suicide bomber who had explosives hidden. in his turban a special ceremony will be held at the presidential palace before his body is taken

to his home province in the northeast the killing was at the latest in a string of high profile assassinations including the president of the murder of president karzai is half brother in july much of the violence has been carried out by the taliban boasted by income from the drugs trade which is flourishing in afghanistan afghanistan is the source of the vast majority of the world's heroin and critics say nato has turned a blind eye over the past ten years it's been in the country you've got a piece going off reports from kabul where drug abuse is rife. the penalty for drinking beer in kabul a sixty whips on the back publically it is a very traditional muslim society or is it there are dozens of people if not more for doing drugs right there under this bridge in the center of the city with all these coming and staring at them and all these insane conditions we still rubbish

being thrown weight here where we're standing right now this is just incredible to see. heroin. it's all cooked mixed injected or smoked all right i'm on these piles of rubbish rotten meat and indescribable. and not one policeman anywhere near that not all we were told these people don't just come here to do drugs many of them told us. we don't have any jobs we don't have any kind of thing to do if you can't pay for the war i don't want to please help out of a study commissioned by the u.s. state department sure each family has at least one drug user all buttes are now found in breast milk and all kids even newborns morphine in their blood there's no doubt the theory of contagion and so on with narcotic crops has increased since minute. the hostility started in afghanistan i believe but the war was the root cause that forced afghan people to turn to poppy growing their own ninety percent

of all the opiates in the world are produced in afghanistan interval cleans the markets global trade has long surpassed the five hundred billion dollar mark or russia is one of the worst affected streets with around eighty tons of heroin to settle in the country that i know it's tragic that despite the enormous resources nato has put into afghanistan including military force drug production is just phenomenal moreover the head of nato military committee personally told me fighting drug production is not their goal there is no such directive. many experts find this a bit strange given the fact that a large part of the revenues from drug money is used to sponsor the taliban nato is key enemy in the region meanwhile the international community and spends billions of dollars to fight again it stands drug traffic but since nato has no way to coordinate the funds are spent with very little positive results while officials

say that multi-billion dollar drug network has the whole world in its grip you've got this going off. afghanistan well that's from our team but now as palestine's a bid for statehood at the united nations looms closer the world's eyes are on israel we spoke to the former head of the israeli secret services. who thinks solutions to peace in the region do exist he shares his insights and our interview coming up next. you're.

with me i have known an israeli politician and the former head of the shin bit the israeli secret service thank you very much for joining us here on r.t. for several years now you've advocated a two state solution between israelis and palestinians do you see the palestinian bid at the united nations as a stick in the star action i'm not sure i think that. what would be the scenario that we should see the next future there is a scenario immediately of true or a cry you know for public admission. probably is international community will create such a pressure of the breed of the sides to negotiate on peace. probably it will be a. two state solution why don't you israelis embrace what some

see as a real opportunity for peace when the palestinians can declare their state most israelis today does not feel secure as they look around and these instability. are threats. and z.c. in security this is a way we translate we understand. what we see around us in the middle east whether it is what we see in iran or in syria or in egypt or in i don't know what will happen tomorrow in jordan or in saudi arabia is there anything of real substance for the palestinians in the u.n. appeal or is it more other public relations effort it will change the perception of the international community probably it will be translated to sanctions economic academics diplomatic sanctions but it will change the perception of people is the region palestinian and muslim arabs are in our neighboring countries

and i sings that we have practically to understand it's a day later we'll be totally different and how will israel react again later. i have no idea first of all. most israelis will see it as in your spirit. and i sings it. we shall have to see what will happen. and what would be the palestinian reaction the most is seen by many not only as a vote of sympathy with the palestinians but also as a barometer of discontent with the israeli government in your opinion what should the israeli government do with the roughly half a million israelis that live in settlements acceptable does not know where you want to say there is no wind on earth that would bring into it is true not not only at

sea so i think that we have to jump ahead and to try to describe zagging of two states. are practically a soon as that are in order to create this reality of two states in the future we shall have to bring most of the surplus back to israel. we have to agree on sixty seven borders with is swap equal swap based on parameters of demography security and contiguity. we have to draw a very very clear red line but it's too near if we jews shall return only to the future state of palestine and jews sure return only to the to the state of israel why has the israeli international campaign against the un bed failed especially when it was just a few months ago when israel seemed internationally to win the fight against

stopping the second fertility tend to break the blockade on gaza i sings that most israelis do not understand the war that we are fighting with a seems that we are acting or we are behaving as if we are fighting a conventional war we do not understand that the are fighting a symmetry war which is totally different and what we are doing we are winning every bottle and we are losing the war what can bring peace to the region beasts will not come with is no hope. if people will not believe that if you achieve a bit. they will not achieve it so the question should be what should be do what should be do or what can we do

in order to create top mr ami ayalon thank you very much for joining us here on r.t. thank you very much. he's .

broadcasting live from the heart of moscow this is our team every with us let's talk about what's going against the grain the president obama tells palestinians it's bad for statehood at the u.n. is going nowhere without a peace process despite overwhelming international support for the most washington continues to threaten a veto at the security council the president abbas appears determined to go ahead with a motion on friday. while in the west bank thousands take to the streets in a show of support for a possible u.n. resolution recognizing a palestinian state there were scenes of jubilation as the marches those people mark what could prove an historic occasion. and do warning maybe you international.