ayman mohyeldin, nbc news, kiev, ukraine. >>> pope francis is in jerusalem tonight after spending the day in the west bank where he issued a stunning invitation that puts him squarely in the middle of the mideast peace process. more on this tonight from nbc's anne thompson. >> reporter: pope francis' day of deliberate acts with powerful messages began with his arrival, flying directly to the palestinian territories from jordan, bypassing israel on the way in. the first pope to do so. in his meeting with president mahmoud abbas, francis recognized the territories as, quote, the state of palestine. then he made an unannounced stop at a graffiti covered section of the concrete separation wall, praying at the barrier that palestinians say essentially makes them prisoners but israel insists is necessary for its security. >> excuse me. >> reporter: that wall is why claire anastas fought her way through the crowds of bethlehem's manger square to see the pope. carrying a poster asking him to save her house, which is surrounded by the wall. >> reporter: what do you see when you look out your w

nbc's ayman mohyeldin who has covered the region extensively joins us tonight with more. ayman? >> reporter: good evening, lester. there was heavy fighting today on the streets of the libyan capital. armed gunmen attacked the capital in tripoli and heavy gunfights and explosions were heard across the city in fighting that has now killed at least 70 people since it started on friday. the fighting is between sources loyal to a former libyan general who now commands his own military and the central government army. former general khalifa haftar says he wants to purge the libyan government of islamic extremists and wants a strong and decisive central government. libya is calling the attack an attempted coup. they have declared a no-fly zone over libya as the violence continues. sings libya's backed up revolution, the country has been in constant turmoil. it has failed to draw up constitution and has seen several leaders resign. large parts of the country are controlled by militias, and the presence of al qaeda-linked militants is on the rise. now, this rebellion by the renegade gene

nbc's ayman mohyeldin is in the capital of kiev for us tonight. >> reporter: good evening, lester.ukrainians will go to the polls to elect a new president months after they rose up and ousted their pro-russian president viktor yanukovych but there are serious questions about whether the country will be able to hold a legitimate election. pro-russian separatists who have been rising up against the central government say they will block the vote from happening and have been seen smashing ballot boxes in the eastern part of the country. meanwhile here in kiev, though preparations have been finalized, observers and international officials are on hand to observe the voting process tomorrow, but not everyone is happy about the political landscape that has emerged in ukraine after the revolution. in fact some of the most notable revolutionaries that have demonstrated here in kiev have actually complained that the candidates running in tomorrow's election don't represent the change that they want and in fact represent the past corrupt system. meanwhile, russia's president, vladimir putin,

we are happy to have ayman mohyeldin with us. you see referendum, hear it, see people voting.is good. people are voting. it's not that. >> definitely not that simple at all. in fact, what we have seen over the course of the last several days is a little bit of lawlessness. kiev losing control over the basic functions of the territory. that's what we are seeing today. referendums being posed very haphazardly. there is no transparency to the process, if you will. a lot of people aren't sure what they are answering in the referendum. the question, should the eastern part of the country have more self-autonomy. very ambiguous. it's an element of the lawlessness that we have seen. >> the vote isn't just a sham. it's confusing. >> absolutely. >> you spend time on the ground there. have local officials lost control of the situation? >> they are in a difficult position. the government in kiev, the central government is under pressure not to use force violently in the eastern part to bring the territory back under its control to get the institutions of the state up and running. it is p

. >> joining me now from kiev ukraine is nbc news foreign correspondent ayman mohyeldin.en the balance the country has been dealing with in recent weeks, even in the past few days, how is this election playing out on the ground today? >> reporter: well, we've had a chance throughout the early hours of the morning and the afternoon to go to several polling stations, both in kiev as well as some of the towns and cities outside of the city capital. now, we've seen for ourselves that the process has been very smooth. the process -- the atmosphere has been relaxed. in fact, there have been international observers at several of these polling stations, including former secretary of stay madeline albright. in all of the facilities there was a sense of optimism on many of the people here who were casting their ballots. they definitely recognize the sincerity and importance of the moment and that's why they were participating. but it was not lost on any of the voters that whoever comes into office faces serious challenges. most importantly, fighting corruption and trying to unite t