thousands of supporters of president mahmoud abbas fatah party are celebrating its anniversary rival party a mass which governs gaza has given it permission to hold the event for the first time since the thought of five years ago president abbas addressed the rally on a big screen from his west bank headquarters in ramallah mostly to how that michele urged reconciliation and national unity during his own rally in gaza last month a little analyst on a nearly i spoke to middle earlier he says it's time for the chief factions to landside their differences hamas will have to look in to the hand they are in fact that will have to look into the hamas in the eye and both sides have to agree on only one thing we don't need more of the consolation we don't need more the conciliation agreements because there were so many agreements signed between the two parties but not one of them has been honored or implemented but hamas cannot take over palestine because the concerns of netanyahu are baseless and groundless he's the only israeli leader who has been giving support to hamas or not only to ham

of boss is a piece -- abbas is a peacemaker for isreal. hamas is considered a terrorist organization. today, hamas supporters joined those today. all the same, they have not started direct negotiations. the head of fatah stayed away from the meeting. he also called for reconciliation between hamas and fatah. he said it pitted brother against brother. abbas said there is no substitute for unity between palestinians. still, achieving unity will take talks. in cairo, they will start negotiations next week. they will try to breathe new life into old unity agreements that have never been implemented. >> coming up, we will take a look at improving relations between the two rival palestinian factions. >> the world's toughest rally rolls into peru. that and more after the break. >> improving ties is just one factor that will shape the region in 2013. >> looking ahead of the challenges of the new year, we'll look that one of the most volatile parts of the world. can it be a time for peace in the middle east? will we simply see more of the same? >>

in gaza where thousands of supporters of president abbas as fattah party are celebrating its anniversary party hamas which governs gaza has given its permission to hold the event for the first time since it since it ousted five years ago president abbas has addressed a rally on a big screen from his west bank headquarters in ramallah the hamas leader khaled mashal reconciliation national unity during his own rally in gaza last month. now a nearly one hundred people in tibet have set themselves on fire in the last nine months in protest over the chinese rule of their territory at beijing's been increasingly criticized by human rights organizations for its handling of protests in the rest of region and now china is turning to economic lures to try and integrate the area by pouring in tens of billions of dollars. of examines whether or not china can expect a return on those investments. love the communist party of china a slogan so widespread in tibet it's even displayed on taxis here everything is an ambiguous mix of modern technology and tradition communism and religion. double is eighty

i'd like to start with the united nations but that gave the palestinians upgraded status president abbas said that the vote was a turning point but was that have the rules of the game changed. one of the problems with the upgrading of the status is that it was done largely for symbolic reasons and not really for anything that is legal reasons i wish that it could be a turning point in the in other words i wish that what i would abandon the strategy of negotiations and listener goshi actions and instead start moving towards a legal strategy or trying to hold israel accountable or trying to get world support but he's not doing that and instead my fear is that this was largely a symbolic move designed to boost his own popularity of popularity that's been dropping but that it's really not going to change anything on the ground other than the signs but if anything could it be argued that it's backfired because since that announcement there have been at least five thousand settlement units that have been announced by the israeli government well the israelis would have built the settlements wit

of mahmoud abbas did you quit because you lost faith in the gauche asians absolutely absolutely it was a. i went through a very deep crisis of faith when i began to see that the only strategy that was being adopted was one of negotiations in the face of calculus calculus. announcements of settlement expansion in the face of israel's construction of the wall. and the only position that the palestinian authority continued to adopt was to go back to more and more negotiations without any visions without without any sort of idea of what would happen if those negotiations failed i couldn't be part of that process any longer what the terms for peace be different now than they were when you were negotiating back in two thousand two thousand and five no they're there precisely the same and one of the problems that we faced during the negotiations was that israel was unwilling to recognize the playability of international law meaning that all of the territory that it occupied in one thousand nine hundred sixty seven does not belong to israel the world has said this they said this in one thousan

first by arafat, and then abbas.hope again we will reach a formula that both sides will work on in good faith. can we resolve all of our differences? maybe not. can we move forward in a way that will benefit the palestinian people on the ground the israeli people, several we can. >> cenk: do you worry that the occupation has a corrupting influence on the population. if it was happening in the united states after 40 years and you're right to point that out. after 40 years we would become the occupiers in a mindset and become comfortable with that. are you worried about that? >> i think democracies always have to be worried about whatever state whatever their democracy. we have a movie that is an oscar contender called "the gatekeepers." it relates to these issues, the dilemmas of war and peace and the situation we're in. we've moved out of gaza unilaterally without agreement. hamas took over, iran took over and that became a launching ground of rocket noose israel. no one wants to see it become like that. we need to w

i'm since it ousted fatah five years ago president abbas addressed the rally on the big screen from his west bank headquarters in ramallah the house leader khaled mashal urged reconciliation and national unity during his own running cars in last month and a list and last is an eighty he says it's time for the two parties to lay aside their differences when israel should stop seeking to rock the boat how much will have to look in to the hand they are in fact that will have to look into the hamas in the eye and both sides have to agree on only one thing we don't need more of the consolation talks we don't need more the consolation agreements because there were so many agreement signed between the two parties but not one of them has been honored or implemented what have nots cannot take over palestine and the concerns of netanyahu are baseless and groundless he's the only israeli leader who has been giving support to hamas are not only to hamas but out to every extremist group on the palestinian side simply because these dumping the palestinian moderates is dumping the leadership of presid

side simply because he's dumping the palestinian moderates is dumping the leadership of president abbas he's dumping the political negotiations with the with the palestinians and he's carrying on his own agenda of increasing the number of do with settlements in the west bank even though they are illegally they are illegal under international law he carries on his policies that this is not every chance of reaching a two state solution between the palestinians and the israelis if the israeli withdrawal from gaza was based on an agreement with the palestinian authority we have we would have seen a totally different middle east today. in the meantime president mahmoud abbas has officially changed the name of the palestinian administration to the state of palestine but despite this recent status upgrade by the un the nation still remains all but united as are his policy reports thousands of families are torn in two by the israeli borders. this is the erez crossing one of five land crossings between israel and gaza getting through here is tough you need the right permission and papers but thi

and in the meantime president mahmoud abbas has officially changed the name of the palace. state of palestine but despite this recent status upgrade by the un the nation it still remains all but united is out its policy a reports thousands of families are torn in two by the borders imposed by israel. this is the erez crossing one of five land crossings between israel and gaza getting through here is tough you need the right permission and papers but this crossing does not just separate israel from gaza it also divides families who are trapped on either side of the border these are the tears of a boy who hasn't seen his father in three years mohammed left gaza in search of a better life for his family but what he found on the other side of the border was loneliness and despair and what he left behind destress and fear this i miss my father a lot and i want to see him i'm afraid a lot my father must come back here we must go and live with him but he can't come and we can't go. all they have now to remind them of him are photographs and the occasional phone call. loved me i ca

live here in the news continues now thousands of supporters of president mahmoud abbas's fattah party are celebrating its anniversary rival party her mass which governs gaza has given its permission to hold the event for the first time since it ousted fattah five years ago live now to political analyst at last on the neary he joins me now live from ramallah it's the biggest rally all of the fattah party since came to power why are we seeing this happening. well first of all let me correct you it's not the first rally since hamas came to power but in fact it's the largest rally in palestinian history in modern history and if you look at the figures the morning estimate spoke of half a million palestinians who took to the streets of gaza this morning but later in the day the figure or the estimate went up to one point two million out of a population of one point seven million palestinians who are living out they could just figure out exactly how big the masses where who came today to celebrate and to mark the forty eighth anniversary of that automation back on the first of january ninet

arguably the pakistan need military did better than we have in afghanistan that we will start with hassan abbas. >> first and foremost, figure eight work done by the new america foundation is a great contribution and source for research everywhere and not just the u.s.. i just returned from pakistan 48 hours ago. three days in pakistan and two were discussing phenomenon. we had just gone back and this was recent to hold a big rally coming up with a new agenda and in three months there is political activity but i am given seven minutes on the frontier province and given my position that today my views are my personal views but the political landscape with the frontier province, that is the guy focused on. -- what i focused on but with the tribal area with six or 7 million people but they will look at the adjacent area that the british framed it like that with 20 million people with all of the past june together. this is the connection with the mainstream and fought top. how the taliban with the genesis and establishing there roots and step-by-step that is why this area from the province is impor

. ♪ ♪ mama mia >> stephen: just to be clear, in france the people with the pink signs dancing to abba the anti-gay protesters. [ laughter ] [cheers and applause] when it comes to the sanctity of marriage, it turns out the french are just like us! they know that it's adam and eve not adam and yves. [ laughter ] the french know that god ordained marriage to be between one man and one woman and that man's mistress, who is also the woman's mistress. [ laughter ] but it'sy tasteful. [ laughter ] but it's not just their opposition to gay on terror. jim? >> in li, france stepped up military moves to stop islamic fighters tied to al qaeda. >> france this week dispatched 2500 troops and commenced air strikes. >> the u.s. is very pleased that france is doing this, i think to a degree surprised. >> stephen: mais oui, to a degree surprised the us is. [ laughter ] up until now, the only thing that got the french angry enough to fight was serving a bordelaise sauce with fish. [ laughter ] france is putting the hurt to al qaeda in mali! with planes, troops and its most sophisticated helicopter gunsh

commission on international religious freedom for professor abbas and professor gopal.the role of privilege and in the pakistani offer religious terms. does that play with the populations of taliban assigned? says something that brings people closer to them or is that political verbiage in a different dressing quick >> we have the answers after 30 seconds, please. sorry because we've been too rapid a. >> the reason there is not investment in pakistan is because of sheer incompetence. it is of course that leads to lack of political will. i also criticize the reason being, this time talking about the 2001, 2008 with the u.s. started doing out by looking at this also is an important institution. so why from 2001 to 2008 on the circuit these organizations the u.s. top about counterterrorism westerlund horseman issue? >> point. >> there's elements of the taliban who believe this is the right time to negotiate because they don't think that the taliban will be reconstituted. there are others who disagree with that. and they think they want when. >> to the search work at least

moment see hamas as being strong prevent fattah, even israel affects their caribbean overthrowing of abbas. >> i think the time for scoring points has gone. we need to focus on ending occupation. fatah can claim it has the biggest support and that's a and hamas to the same. we will be caught in a cycle of nothingness. we need to and occupation. that requires palestinian unity and reconciliation. let's see how it goes today. hopefully it will go smoothly. everything has been done in total coordination with hamas. this will be good for reconciliation and living in the direction of reconciliation. factions have been formed at the end of the day to end occupation in not and the will of the people. >> thank you for joining us. one of the world's top oil producers, but nigeria is still struggling to meet its daily fuel needs. an investigation into the oil industry has shown corruption. >> 9 dourou's black market fuel -- nigeria is black market fuel continues. they have to buy the fuel at higher prices from the young man peddling in on the road. why this should be happening in nigeria, is a quest

talk to mahmoud abbas but we don't achieve anything by that. that only brings us more cast is. we need a -- more disaster. we need someone strong or the arabs will walk all over us. the criticism that netanyahu allowed hamas through recent doing to gain strength isn't being talked of. >> he says it's like we're living on a small island. it's only 30,000 kilometers and we have to fight for it every hour of every day. i worry about what will happen to my grandchildren in 30 years. if we don't find a solution, it's only going to get worse. i keep hearing the opinion that israel has too stay strong in a region that is changing rapidly. some put it in stronger terms than that. i've come to the he brew university of jerusalem to look at the platforms. one is bennett who shot to prominence during the campaign. he heads the jewish home party. he's drawn some voters away and polls show hoe could end up with a 1/3 end of the share vote. the momentum is a hard-liner when it comes to palestine. >> i believe time only one and our peter is the only party on this podium that opposes sounding

the leaders of sudan and south sudan have met in the ethiopian capital adas abba for a second day of crisis talks, discussing oil and border issues with african mediators. sudan and south sudan came close to war last year after the south became a separate state, both accusing the other of supporting rebels in their territories. at least 100 homes have been destroyed by wildfires on the australian island of tasmania. the mainland is also on high alert as bush fires sweep across the states of south australia and victoria. andrew thomas reports. >> forecasters have warned tasmania was about to endure its hottest temperatures in years and they produced the state's worst wildfires in almost half a century, carried on by hot wind, flames swept through the southeast of the island state destroying at least 100 homes. some escaped the fires spending hours up to their necks in water. in dunali, the worst affected town, the local school was among the buildings destroyed. once flames passed, destruction was clear. >> they've lost both their houses. my brother's lost his up there, millions of dol

mahmoud abbas is chairman of the plo. he said recently that 2013 would be the year in which palestine would achieve full statehood. whether that is wishful thinking, to get there, reconciliation between the two factions is needed. that's why we are seeing hundreds of thousands of fatah supporters being allowed to exercise their voices and to protest and to celebrate the anniversary on the streets of gaza. >> thanks very much. venezuelan government says president hugo chavez is in a severe -- battling a severe lung infection in three weeks after his cancer operation in cuba. plenty of speculation about his health, following sunday's announcement of further complications. the opposition have been demanding the government provide confirmation on his condition. now this report from cuba. >> it's now more than three weeks since hugo chavez putin alabama for his fourth operation for cancer. this normally a ever present president has not been seen or heard from ever since. opposition politicians have been accusing the venezuelan

in a televised address, the palestinian president, mahmoud abbas, said palestinian unification was antant step on the way to ending israeli occupation. >> we should work together in unity. there is no better choice than unity to reach our national goals and achieve victory. >> hamas gave permission for the rally after the deadlock in peace talks between baasbbas' administration and israel narrowed the distance between factions. >> the holiday season may be over for many humans, but for some zoo animals, christmas began on friday. elephants in the berlin's zoo were served as mistry's for lunch -- elephants in berlin's zoo were served christmas trees for lunch. zookeepers say they relish the treat. that concludes our review of the week'

we'll start with hasan abbas. >> thank you very much, peter, first and foremost. i want to congratulate you on the work and the great work on militancy in south asia. it's really a great contribution and a great source for research for students, um, everywhere. not only in the u.s., but also in south asia. i just actually returned from pakistan about 48 hours ago. i was just joking with a friend that out of my three days in pakistan, about two and a half days were spent on, um, discussing new phenomena, a religious player who had just gone pack to pakistan. and this has become in recent months kind of a new phenomena. many major political leaders holding big rallies, um, with hundreds of thousands of people coming up with new agendas, coming up with new slogans and now with elections coming in three months or so, there's a lot of political activity. but i'll focus in many about the remaining seven minutes that i am given on not this frontier province. and i also wallet to add given -- want to add given my position in a government organization all that i'm saying t

conflict with israel despite the heavy cost for fatah who's claiming victory after its president mahmoud abbas successfully upgraded palestinian status at the united nations as hamas and fatah move closer together the irony is that they getting help from israeli prime minister benjamin netanyahu in his right wing policies and rhetoric are winning the palestinian support and sympathy on the international stage it was on that on yahoo's watch that as the recent united nations palestinian statehood bid demonstrated european unfailing support for israel has floundered it was also an attorney on whose watch that u.s. is revelations reached their lowest ebb and now it's on his watch again that palestinian unity seems plausible for. for her it's a long term interest of of for us to think of as a cooperate again because otherwise they're running the risk. that the west bank will in the end along be part of the same political structure which de facto right now is the case leaders from both sides have a new day course for the conciliation if you think that of course. between hamas and the catastrophe it

. >> for more information on today's show, a visit to abbas miley at pbs.org. tavis: high, i am tavis smiley. joining next time for our chat with kristen stewart and her new film, "on the road." >> there is a saying that dr. king had that said there is always the right time to do the right thing. i just try to live my life every day by doing the right thing. we know that we are only halfway to completely eliminate hunger, and we have a lot of work to do. walmart committed $2 billion to fighting hunger in the u.s. as we work together, we can stamp hunger out. >> and by contributions to your pbs station by viewers like you. thank you. pbs station by viewers like you. thank you.

hold to its position that there is no partner on the palestinian side that the leadership of mahmoud abbas is not a leadership which wants peace in the eyes of the israeli government and therefore the israeli government will attempt to keep the status quo in place which has been rather comfortable for israel we have had no real terrorism there's no uprising taking place in the palestinian territories the separation of the west bank and gaza has played into israel's interest and i think that the government of israel will seek to preserve the status quo for as long as possible the question is whether or not the international community will move beyond words in its isolation policies of israel if there will be economic sanctions or other political sanctions that we've yet to seen but i think that an increasingly hardline israeli government will push the international community toward more isolationist policies toward israel. well one of the most pressing and divisive issues is this election's been settlement's a theme that the writers campaigned on tirelessly indeed but what my own perspectiv

side simply because he's dumping the palestinian moderates is dumping the leadership of president abbas he's dumping the poor political negotiations with the with the palestinians and he's carrying on his own agenda of of increasing the number of jewish settlements in the west bank even though they are illegally they are illegal under international law because on his policies the set up every chance of reaching a two state solution between the palestinians and israelis if the israeli withdrawal from gaza was based on an agreement with the palestinian authority we have we would have seen a totally different middle east today as israel hampers attempts to see a fully fledged palestinian state come into existence by building barriers between the two science it's not just divided but family policy here has more for us. this is the everest crossing one of five land crossings between israel and gaza getting through here is tough you need the right permission and papers but this crossing does not just separate israel from gaza it also divides families who are trapped on either side of the bord