joining me is evelyn leopold, former reuters bureau chief at the united nations, and the huffington postorning. glad to have you here to talk about this. first of all, how does this vote at the u.n. figure into the equation? you write about the change from the word entities, as palestine recognizes entity to an actual state. that's a big word change. >> yes, except they're not full members of the u.n. but they have that word change. and they will use it as best they can. they can join more entities. >> why -- >> and it also boosts the palestinian authority, gives it more prestige over hamas. >> oh, absolutely. but, why did the u.s. oppose that? i mean, it is certainly in the vast majority in the terms of the number of votes in the u.n. >> enormous majority. more than anyone expected. why does the u.s. oppose it? because israel opposed it. because, mrs. clinton has said a few times, they have to negotiate. and not use new york platform instead of negotiation. however, alex, they're not negotiating, and they're going to need the obama administration to push them into it. >> is this a game