former israeli prime minister ehud barak. what would a vote on the palestinian state mean to the u.s., israel and the middle east? >>> and man of very strong opinions making the biggest gamble of his career. simon cowell is the starmaker behind "american idol." can he strike it rich again with "the x factor." >> people like you inspire me. >> tonight simon cowell and nicole scherzinger. >> i finally actually met my match. i found an ego bigger than myself. >> this is "piers morgan tonight." good evening. a senior u.s. official tells cnn that president obama will meet with mahmoud abbas tomorrow. the president's campaigning for full u.n. membership and statehood recognition. the u.s. has promised to block it in order to avoid a diplomatic showdown at the u.n. this week. the whole world will be watching. but the question tonight is this. where does all this leave israel? joining me now is ehud barak. thank you for joining me. this seems on the face of it to be a very pivotal moment for israel, palestine, for the peace process.

to be where ehud barak was? >> i think i put fward real parameters in both my knesset speech and my bar elan speech and my speech in the u.s. congress real parameters that unite the majority of israelis. >> rose: but the parameters are different from the parameters that ehud barack having to do with jerusalem... >> no, they're not. i want jerusalem a united city for sure. these are not pre-conditions for a negotiations. they're position in the negotiations. the final positions come out after a negotiation. i don't think it makes sense, i think it's just not wise, it's even silly, to come forward and say well i'll offer this percent with a decimal point... >> rose: of land. >> of land. that's what the negotiatns are for. i don't hear abbas saying anythi. nothing! 's not offering anything! look, how long can i stay on the jordan river? talked to him for all of six hours. that's all you need to talk to me in the two and a half years that m prime minister. six hours! you know, have a centuryf con flikt resolve. six

we'll talk to ehud barak.ng the biggest gamble of his life with "the x factor." i'll ask him if he thins he'll hit it big again. >>> the ridiculist. why one of the biggest sperm banks is turning away red-headed donors. [ daniel ] my name is daniel northcutt. [ jennifer ] and i'm jennifer northcutt. opening a restaurant is utterly terrifying. we lost well over half of our funding when everything took a big dip. i don't think anyone would open up a restaurant if they knew what that moment is like. ♪ day 1, everything happened at once. ♪ i don't know how long that day was. we went home and let it sink in what we had just done. [ laughs ] ♪ word of mouth is everything, and word of mouth today is online. it all goes back to the mom and pop business and building something from the heart, founded within a family. when i found out i was pregnant, daniel was working on our second location. everyone will find out soon enough i think that something's happening. ♪ ♪ borrowed technology from ferrari to develop its suspensi

last night on "piers morgan tonight" ehud barak basically said u.s./israeli military connections, between washington and jerusalem was as strong as ever if not the strongest ever. he's getting support right now. there's no doubt over the past several months or past couple years there have been serious strains in the u.s./israeli relationship between the president and prime minister netanyahu. they're trying to fix that. it is a political hot potato as you correctly point out. >> tricky position for the president, no doubt. wolf blitzer, great to have you on. thank you so much. >> thank you. >>> a day before the u.n. hears from the president of iran, that country finally released two american hikers whom it tried and convicted as spies. shane bauer and josh fattal, hiking with sarah shourd, when all three were picked up in 2009. they were accused of crossing the border and sent to a frizz in iran. sho shourd was released this time last year. the two men were prosecuted, found guilty of espionage and sentenced to eight years in prison. that was just las

and i have known the minister of defense, ehud barak, since he was the chief of staff when i was the director of the cia. i have known these players and been in this game a while. i was with president carter when he was at the camp david talks and reached at peace. the one thing i have noted is that the big steps toward peace between israel and the arabs, in both cases were there have been major steps forward, have been under very conservative israeli prime ministers, first under menachem begin, and under prime minister shamir. and i believe advances were made under prime minister sharon before. and i believe what we all have to think about, when we think about the palestinian state, are you talking about the west bank where the palestinian authority actually has some authority, where their security services have been trained by the united states and others and work closely with the israelis and where there is a pretty good relationship? or are you talking aboutthe gazan palestinians controlled by hamas that want the destruction of israel? which palestinians does the resolution are p