. >> reporter: the settlement carves into the rocky hillside near ramallah. merav sela says settling here stakes a claim. >> the arabs, they can live here, but they need to be quiet, and not do any harm. >> reporter: your views unwavering. >> i don't really like them, actually. >> reporter: in ramallah, we asked this palestinian, about beit el's high-profile be racist against palestinians," she said. opinions here are as divided as this land. >> this is the biggest problem of the world, in their last 2,000 years. who is the chosen people? >> reporter: an impossible question, but here, the u.s. is seen choosing sides. seth doane, cbs news, beit el, in the west bank. >> pelley: coming up next on the cbs evening news, the soaring cost of saving overdose victims. [burke] billy- rgoatuffians. seen it. covered it. we know a thing or two because we've seen a thing or two. ♪ we are farmers. bum-pa-dum, bum-bum-bum-bum ♪ as after a dvt blood clot,ital i sure had a lot to think about. what about the people i care about? ...including this little girl. and what if this h

. >> reporter: the settlement carves into the rocky hillside near ramallah. he says settling here stakes a claim. >> the arabs, they can live here, but they need to be quiet and not do any harm. >> reporter: your views are unwavering. >> i don't really like them actually. >> reporter: in ramallah, we asked this palestinian about the school's high profile supporters. "it shows american policies will be racist against palestinians." opinions here are as divided as the land. >> this is the biggest problem in the world in the last 2,000 years. who is the chosen people? >> reporter: an impossible question. choosing sides. seth doane, cbs news, in the west bank. always keep laundry pacs away from children. keep them up, keep them closed, keep them safe. tide pods now come in a child guard zip pack. to help keep your laundry pacs safe and your child safer. align, press and unzip. ok, it says you apply the blue okone to me.y this. here? no. ah ok, here? maybe you should read the directions. have a little fun together, or a lot. k-y yours and mine. two sensations that

. >> reporter: batel is near the palestinian city of ramallah and it's considered illegal under international law because it's built on land where palestinians hope their state will be. yet, president trump's administration has direct and personal ties here. the president's pick for u.s. ambassador to israel, david friedman, helped raise millions for batel. >> there was no president who appointed an ambassador to israel with a real supporter of the settlements, never. >> reporter: among the half billion of israelis living in the west bank settlements, there was praise for prime minister netanyahu's insistence today that israel maintain security control over all territory west of the jordan river, which would mean palestinians who now live in the west bank would be in a wider israel but without the rights of israeli citizens. >> i don't believe they can undermine the two-state solution. i don't think in the 21st century they will get away with it. it's impossible. >> reporter: but the peace process seems to have new rules under president trump. richard engel, nbc news, on the west bank. >>> to

can you talk about comments like that coming out of that community in ramallah? and your views on those comments the implications? mr. friedman: i think they are a challenge on many to achieving a two-state solutia. -- achieving a two state solution. a hum lytic academy -- hamudic academy. my philanthropic activity there has not been connected to their political act vividly which i had no part in. senator murphy: if the land in that area was included in a two state solution and the land had to be returned to the palestinians, would you support the return of that land? mr. friedman: in the context of a fully agree to two-state solution, yes. senator corker: i know that senator cardin has some questions. i will let him finish. senator cardin: with no disrespect to the chairman, i will ask my questions and then thank mr. friedman for your patience and your willingness to serve and your passion for the relationship between israel and the united states. come across very clearly from your testimony and i want to underscore that. the white house issued a statement on fe

we understand the cia director mike pompeo was in ramallah and he met with abas where they discussed that. >> elise laughin, thank you very much. let's turn to the constant contacts with the russian officials. we're joined by jake sullivan, former top adviser to hillary clinton and advised joe biden. >> glad to be here. >> constant contact between trump's official aides during the campaign, russian officials. what does this mean? >> it's deeply alarming. what it means at a minimum this is totally unusual to have campaign officials, senior people close to trump in contact with senior people in the russian government or around the russian government. i think we need a full and fair bipartisan investigation to find out what they were talking about, what the constant investigation was and whether there was collusion or coordination. >> the president tweeted this earlier, this russian connection nonsense is merely an attempt to cover up the many mistakes made in hillary clinton's losing campaign. he's calling this a cover-up because your campaign, the hillary clinton campaign lost. respon

i met with the prime minister of the palestinian authority in ramall ramallah. he said in no uncertain terms they would never recognize israel as a state. with regard to where all the settlement activity is going on, i'm confident that the israeli people are willing to make big compromises in order to achieve that long-term peace. have you to have a willing partner on the other side of the table. >> congressman, thank you much. appreciate your time. up next, it what we call a smooth transition, from politics over to sports. at least that's is what it is being called by folks in boston. the new england patriots, if you've been living under the rock for the past 12 hours, coming off the biggest win in super bowl history. still politics is part of it. more on the other side of this break. to do the best for your pet, you should know more about the food you choose. with beyond, you have a natural pet food that goes beyond telling ingredients to showing where they come from. beyond assuming the source is safe... to knowing it is. beyond asking for trust... to earning

what about meeting with the palestinian peace groups in ramallah? and maybe more of a focus on palestinian governance issues that have also not been the focal point since salam fayyad left. so i'm into the single zone. a solid single for me would be -- and that's what this paper argues for, would be a way to not to shoot for the fences where you could strike out a fourth time so a solid single. so i don't think we'll come out of this meeting with any big announcement. i'd be surprised if we did. it's an introductory meeting. they've met before but as president and prime minister but to introduce some of these themes that could be foundations going forward would be very useful as the two countries build a relationship and try to set its course for the next four years. thank you all very, very much. [ applause ] >> david, thank you very much. i think we'll have to put on our web site a -- an arabic/english baseball metaphor translation so that everybody who's watching this all over the world can understand all the metaphors. okay, i'm not going to tur

i was just in israel and in ramallah, the palestinian authority two weeks ago, and they're quite dismayed at the lack of progress and the list of grievances on both sides. i really hope that mr. friedman, if he is confirmed, walks back some of his own statements and makes sure that there is an opportunity for peace here. if there's going to be an outside-in deal where the arabs buy into a settlement between the palestinian authority and the israeli government, time is wasting. you go through the west bank and see those settlements on top of the hills and the palestinian villages below and it's a very intimidating situation. and i thought president trump was right to say to prime minister netanyahu yesterday that he ought to cool it on the settlement activity. but can i say something else, though? i'm burning to say this. if i were dan coates, a former u.s. ambassador and former ambassador to germany, not named by trump -- >> not confirmed but nominated. >> nominated. i would be having a very bad day. i would think about stephen feinberg coming into the white house, a trump contributor, ba

chief mike pompeo, in the west bank city of ramallah.ning me to delve further into the news out of today's white house news conference, and where the israeli-palestinian issue stands at the beginning of the trump administration, are shibley telhami. he's the anwar sadat professor for peace and development at the university of maryland; and tamara cofman wittes. she's a senior fellow in the middle east policy center at the brookings institution, and she served as deputy assistant secretary of state for near eastern affairs in the obama administration, from november of 2009 to january 2012. shibley, i want to start with you. what did both of these leaders get out of this before they even began having conversations? >> first, domestically. mr. netanyahu is obviously looking back home. he is in trouble on an investigation on corruption. he is being pressured from the ultra-right. he wants to show, at a time when the israelis are uncertain about where president trump is going to go, he wants to show he can make a deal with the president, that