yesterday they actually both hamas and fattah said that they will be unified against this assault on gaza israel seems to treat the patterson's with so little humanity they can't even listen to it to the palestinians press releases how mass is stronger in gaza the resistance is more unified in terms of its support in gaza israel has basically shot itself in the foot the palestinian people in the last few days have the ones i've spoken to said that they feel for the first time in history they've had some sort of defense force themselves as these resistance groups have struck israel with more strength than they have previously in history including with longer range missiles so if feels like things here in gaza are going to get worse and worse actually sings there's been this leafleting of dancing. populated areas in gaza asking hundreds and thousands of people to evacuate when they can't evacuate anyway so it looks like on the one hand grad ground invasion or escalation certainly is going to be forthcoming but also we're hearing these murmurings about cease fires as well which mean goi

in the west bank, there is fattah. the palestinian authority that is in control of that area.ch is in control. but there are also a number of other groups. islamic jihad is also one of those groups, a name you probably heard a lot about over last several days. we wanted to get an up close look on who they are, what their beliefs are and who is backing them. i'm joined by aaron david miller. explain islamic jihad in their operations here. >> well, the jihadis emerged in the late '80s, early '90s. it's been a group that has been dedicated, essentially, to military struggle. it offers no political or social safety net. in other words, it doesn't provide in the tradition of the muslim brotherhood or in the hamas a kind of social and economic network in order to attract and reinforce and consolidate its adherence. it is divided over the years. it is smaller now than ever. but it has demonstrated along with a number of other jihadi groups that operate in sinai, sponsored probably with links to al qaeda, al qaeda subcontractors, it shows the capacity of militant, tiny groups to disru

how much stronger are they now than they were at the start of this violence, vis-a-vis fattah and the west bank? >> politically they definitely emerged from it much stronger. i remember that in january 2006, when there were palestinian parliamentary elections, and hamas won, immediately the united states and israel began to impose sanctions on hamas, political and economic sanctions. they have been trying now for the last six years to isolate hamas, but what we have seen in the last few days is that high level arab delegations, including several foreign ministers, we have seen the leader of qatar previous to this outbreak of fighting, we have seen the turkish prime minister come, suddenly hamas has many friends in the muslim and arab world that it could not depend upon before. before it was hosni mubarak, was guarding the gates at gaza. he was not a friend of hamas. and now you have muhammad morsi, a member of the muslim brother h hood, president of egypt. now hamas emerges from this in a much better political shape. and unlike in the last round of fighting in 2008-2009, as the genera

the big rift is between the fattah movement which rules the west bank and gaza here in hamas. this is what the palestinian president had to say about the need to restore palestinian unity. >> translator: it's a naked aversion against our people in gaza. they also want to create unity between two parts of the homeland. they want to end the palestinian divergence and to restore unification. >> reporter: and meanwhile, the palestinians here are awaiting high-profile visits by the secretary general of the arab league and a delegation of four arab foreign ministers. many people here in gaza hoping the diplomacy will start to eclipse war. gary? >> ben wedeman, thank you for joining us on the program. ben wedeman reporting from the gaza strip. >>> now let's go near the southern border of gaza. what's happening on the southern border and how active have the iron dome missiles been? >> reporter: well, the iron dome missile system has really played a prominent role here, but generally around the whole area around gaza today. i was actually at one of the iron dome missile batteries near

fattah doesn't want it in the west bank. israelis don't want to see it.y're feeling more insecure than they have in years. they understand the current strategy won't hold in the future. >> this man knows his stuff. appreciate it, sir. >>> developing now here in the u.s., two people are missing after an oil platform explodes in the gulf of mexico. the platform about 20 miles off the coast of grand isle, louisiana. it is not a drilling facility, 11 people sent to the hospital as crews launch a search and rescue mission. 28 gallon of fuel spilled creating an oil sheen half a mile long. we're told it is not considered a major environmental threat. updates as we get them here on cnn. >>> up next, david petraeus on the hot seat, testifying on the benghazi attack and it seemed to all come down to the distinction between classified and unclassified information. we'll break that down for you. >>> plus, here we go. as the u.s. faces a so-called fiscal cliff, the nation's most powerful leaders sit down together. hear what happened behind closed doors. ♪ ♪ [ male ann

this bid when the palestinian people are literally divided are they between two factions hamas and fattah should unity between the two parties be addressed first you think . i think how much of the very clear in their leader khaled mashaal including the hamas prime minister ismail haniya both of them have doors. for statehood they have been made very clear that the p.l.o. remains a sole legitimate representative of the palestinian people they have made very clear that they support peace efforts to get a state in the only thing that hamas has said is that if eventually we get to a peace agreement with the state of history this agreement has to be said for a national referendum which is the same this really is actually going to do is still the question is not why we're going now i think the question is why we didn't go before and i think what we're doing now it's over to do is step four and over do . this if this debate is that you are seeing all over the occupied palestinian territory including the gaza strip including occupied this juicer them including all refugee camps eleven million pa

on the other hand fattah doesn't seem to have enough control over the people. i don't think you can finally get to some kind of solution here until the two of them are working together. >> what about chris christie, he has been getting the flack from the gop senior members. and him embracing the support, what was your view. i had dinner with chris two days after the election. i think he did what he had to do as a governor. i did that several times as mayor of new york and got hurt. this is all going to pass away. >> i believe chris will get re-elected and there were some people that were being annoyed about it. and i think they are not realizing that the governor has an obligation to the people of their state. many of them were in a terrible situation. he needed to help them he put that first. >> would you like to see him running in 2016? >> you are preaching to the converted here. if i wasn't the first republican to support him i was the second. i think he's exactly the kind of public servant we need. someone that puts the interest of his state ahead of his pa

its rival, fattah, did. there are people with an obvious interest in hamas and support it. but many people would support anybody who could guarantee their dignity, their freedom, and some peace because more than anything, people need peace, they need jobs, they need to get back to a normal life. and for gaza, a real normal life is something most people have simply never known. >> sure. and a life free from fear for everyone. let's talk about the negotiations, hamas leader sounds like he's taking a hard line, but we're also hearing there could be a cease-fire soon. what are you hearing, ben? >> reporter: i just got off the phone a little while ago to a senior hamas official who is involved in the contacts that are going on between hamas to egypt, from egypt to israel. and they are discussing a cease-fire, sending messages back and forth. hamas says they have sent a draft proposal for a cease-fire through egypt to israel. they're hoping to get a response either tonight or sometime early tomorrow morning. and now there are sticking points, however. one of the sticking points i

fattah. the speaker pro tempore: gentleman from pennsylvania is recognized for three minutes. mr. fattah: i want to thank the gentleman for his great work on this legislation and also to my colleague who will be leaving us, the chairman of the rules committee, who has done some great work over his many years. but i rise in support of this legislation. i think it is important to see as this continuum moves our relationship with russia changed, and now moving into a circumstance of additional trade and enhanced trade. i'm one that's very focused on improving manufacturing here in the united states, and this is going to open up tremendous opportunities for our manufacturers. i want to commend those who have worked together on this and the obama administration for their continuing efforts to open up trade opportunities so that we can make it here and sell it everywhere, which is, i think, should be our focus. in addition to that, i think it shows how over time old wounds can be healed and new relationships can be built. i spoke earlier today with the consulate general for the state of

2006 when zarqawi was pushing this, he was under criticism from the headquarters of you will in the fattah at doing that at times it should be the americans rather than the shia muslims. in fact by the time i was iraq, al qaeda was basically leaving as a loan and that was partly because we were heavily armed. but the of the reason was their targets of preference was the shia. we are seeing this again and syria. this is a very, very bad development and it continues. we went to war twice in the bosnian -- in the balkans in bosnia and kosovo to prevent such a split along religious lines in the balkans and the middle east it is far more important and far more dangerous than the balkans. so we need to watch this. finally, on al qaeda for various legal reasons as well as politically and domestic reasons and diplomatic reasons we see this as a war. but we haven't done a good job recently explaining to the american people the implications of that. if it is a war y then do we put these people on trial? there are answers to that as the legal enemy combatants. but the this is a complex issue that is

fattah of pennsylvania for today and mr. hastings of florida for today. the speaker pro tempore: without objection, the requests are granted. under the speaker's announced policy of january 5, 2011, the gentleman from virginia, mr. scott, is recognized for 60 minutes as the designee of the minority leader. mr. scott: thank you, madam speaker. and on behalf of the congressional black caucus, we'd like to discuss the fesscal cliff and our position on the -- fiscal cliff and our position on the ongoing negotiations. we didn't get here, madam speaker, by accident. i was elected in 1992 and in the 1993 budget we addressed fiscal responsibility by passing the clinton budget. it was very controversial. in fact it only passed by one vote in the house, and the vice president had the vote in the senate to break the tie. but that budget us on a trajectory towards fiscal responsibility. it was interrupted by a controversy in 1995 when the republicans, using the votes on that budget, picked up a majority in the house and tried to dismantle that budget. president clint