anthony, take us into the city of hama. you describe a place feeling a kind of freedom for the first time. but a very tense one given its history. >> hama is serious is-- syria's fourth largest city, it's a significant place. and since last month when security forces with drew, you've seen i think a notion of freedom emerge there. the way i described it earlier was that between sub jugation and liberation. people are scared of what is ahead, worried the government might retaked city. but in the meantime have you an open space, gathering on the sidewalks, debating the issues of the day, singing pro test songs, talking about the youth and the organization. you have youth themselves who have organized. they have built probably 100 barricades on roads throughout the city. some of those have been opened on the main streets but most neighborhoods are cut off. the barricades are meant to block the return of security forces and that fear of arrest is still very palpable. at night you see protests gather almost nightly, sometimes as

unfortunately, hamas is -- hamas' 2011 unify agreement did not accept this agreement -- this commitment nor did it are-mounsvibles. h.res. 268 also outlines what a negotiated settlement should entail, negotiations in which each accepts the other's right to exist and which are aimed at a two-state solution. again these have been key points of u.s. and israeli policy but hamas, a state department foreign terrorist organization, has rejected them they have fact is, madam speaker, the u.s. law precludes foreign assistance through a p.a. which shares power with hamas unless it recognizes israel's right to exist and adheres to prior agreements between israel and the p.l.o. the israeli government has been extremely generous to the p.a., prorising other $550 million annually so the resolution wisely reaffirms this law. ms. ros-lehtinen: i yield the gentleman 30 seconds. the chair: the -- the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman is recognized. mr. smith: so this agreement pending the -- it is our policy and israel's policy, madam speaker, promote a realistic, sustainable peace process. one that en

and i think what rula was talking about with hamas i think exactly explains it i think you are right right we sort enormous concerns about islamic groups of all shapes but in the united states information through far so i think that sets a for as you said you should point out you have not a real good majority we really don't know what the majority is i mean yes we have maybe a million people in tahrir square but each of these. huge countries but million people really do much dorothy i mean we've seen historically you've been noticing that the best organized political forces are the one to take over and as much as historical comparisons are not always the right thing to do iran is a great example of that so an organized force but it has a massive popular support like the brotherhood can take over and i want to pause and think the brotherhood will i mean this is a little you this is. this is one of the groups who are not organized one of the issues of this program is hijacking and rule what do you that's why i want to do this program he you see there's a fear that he and i'm not going

it's not a bad deal except that once they are in power they will do what hamas did in gaza they will go where the iranian regime did so in terms of freedom let's be honest about it in terms of liberties freedom in terms of women freedom and choice is what we want to be out of their government what to what we do expect that will be there there are there are there agenda there will be it's just more lack of freedom and harassing people more and more of our civil liberties the liberals who are not scared but they are not organized listen if you talk to mohamed el baradei today or i'm a nor are these people they were simply tell you we need more time to organize for the next election and to show people our agenda and we how we can improve their lives slowly slowly with time and what kind of foreign relations we might cattle you know the shuttle was sort of i would decide what our relations in the second half of the program and now what do you think about i mean. the. some brotherhood very prepared prepared for this election here and nobody else seems to be prepared and they're afraid of

and peace with hamas. fact is you choose peace with israel, you got nothing. you have more settlements. by the way the whole situation was made worse by the bush administration's attempt to manipulate the first palestinian elections and overthrow that government. elliott abrams was appointed on that. there was a coup directed by the united states. what you see in between hamas and photog is rejection of the american role and possibility of a peace agreement anytime soon. it may turn out that is a good thing. maybe having peace with palestinians is not really peace and the other half has the possibility to undermine that peace if they are not included. there is nothing israel needs more than real peace. you need to make it with a real government that includes photog and hamas but it won't happen any time soon so it will be a matter of crisis management between now and then and crisis management is difficult when you have an organized establishment demanding that you be 110% is really -- israeli. in the long

peace with israel and peace with hamas. and the fact is that if you chose peace with israel for the past three years, you got nothing. you got nothing. you got more settlements, and you got, you know, the invasion of gaza so -- by the way, the whole situation was made far worse by the bush administration's attempt to manipulate the first palestinian election and overthrow that government. there was a coo inside directed by the united states. in any case, what you see between hamas and fatah is the rejection of the american role and rejection of the peace agreement any time soon. that could be a good thing. making peace with half of the palestinians is not a peace, and the other half can undermind the peace if they are not included. if you want real peace, and there's nothing needed more, you need to make it with a real palestinian government that including hamas, but it's not going to happen any time soon of the it's a matter of crisis management between now and then, and crisis management is very difficult when you have an

i think properly with hamas. hamas won an election.acy of the election is open to doubt, perhaps, but hamas won that election in gaza. should israel continue to refuse to negotiate with hamas? >> israel should do whatever it needs to do to defend itself as far as i'm concerned, but i don't think we need to be supporting the israelis in anything. certainly if we cared about what the israelis thought or about their security, we would not have stabbed mubarak in the back and brought him down, because whatever happens in egypt now, the government that takes the place of mubarak is going to be a very anti-israeli. and i think the one thing about the brotherhood, what the brotherhood is not in this for democracy or for anything else at the end of the day but power. that's what they're after. and if it takes some democratic talk and it takes a little peacefulness at the initial stages, then that's what they'll do. but at the end of the day, they want to be the government of egypt. and that has to be the american, i think, optic here. we're go

and peace with hamas.nd the fact is that if you chose peace with israel for the past three years you got nothing. you got nothing. you got more settlement. and you got -- by the way, the whole situation was made far worse by the bush administration's attempt many put the first palestinian election, and then overthrow that government. there was a to inside that was directed by the tranny. in any case what you see is between hamas and fatah is the rejection of the american will and the possibility of a peace agreement anytime soon. it may turn out that's a good thing. because making peace with just have a palestinian is not repeat that the other half of the possibility of undermine that peace if they were not included. if you want real peace and is nothing israel needs more than the piece, you need to make it with a real palestinian government that includes fatah and hamas. but if i could happen anytime soon. so it's going to be a matter of sort of crisis management between now and then. and crisis mission i

treaty in spite of palestinian rejection in spite of continued palestinian terrorism from gaza by hamas islamic jihad and other fundamentalist and terrorist groups in spite of all that we want to negotiate a peace treaty that will give security to both sides so saying that we cannot be trusted because the palestinians are rejecting time and again every reasonable offer i think that's taking it a bit too far for anyone for any observers for any observant standards well during this century mr palmer you mentioned several times that israel is happy about palestine's in japan and you're not against it but then why are you continuing israel in fact continuing to threaten them. we're not threatening anyone i mean you've taken a headline in the israeli newspaper that simply reveals that we're examining the consequences of the palestinian policy and you're calling it a threat when i say you i don't mean you personally obviously i mean the palestinians are doing that and then this is being repeated but we're not threatening anyone on the contrary we're under threat because you're speaking about

in hama, one sign told assad "sorry, president, game over." activists said more than 200,000 people filled the streets. in damascus, demonstrators marched near the great mosque of mezze and in other neighborhoods. the protests appeared peaceful, but clashes and deaths were reported as well. in the north, the syrian army reportedly staged new attacks, aimed at stanching the flow of refugees toward the turkish border. more than 10,000 syrians are now at camps in southern turkey. during a visit to lithuania today, secretary of state hillary clinton issued a new warning. "it is absolutely clear that the syrian government is running out of time," she said. "they are either going to allow a serious political process, or they are going to continue to see increasingly organized resistance." despite international criticism- - and sanctions-- the assad regime's crackdown has killed some 1,400 civilians nationwide. but ten days ago, president assad gave his third speech of the crisis, offering a dialogue with the opposition. and some 200 government criti

peace between the photog grouping and their rival, hamas. mahmoud abbas said that reconciliation between palestinian factions would strengthen the peace process and make a two-stage solution more likely. now, he ullike toet the world on board. the palestinians would like a new state comprising the west bank and gaza strip based on the borders before the war in 1967. the borders are far from the only issue to be resolved. the future of israeli settlements is a bone of contention as well as the future status of jerusalem and whether palestinian refugees should be allowed to return to their former homes. more than half of the member states have signaled support for a vote on statehood. many african nations are lining up support. some european members might come on board perhaps including scandinavian countries and france. germany says that they will not offer their support. they said a u.n. vote to recognize palestine would be counterproductive. >> is the good will is there on both sides, it is possible to get the peace process moving. this wou

the state department said robert ford will stay in hama. pakistan has responded to comments by america's highest rank military officer that it sanctioned the killing of a pakistani journalist in may. pakistani government spokesman said the comments -- extremely irresponsible. in cape canaveral, florida, a space shuttle atlantis' liftoff for the last time, but the weather may have a say. storms threatened to delay a launch. the program is coming to an end. britain's disasters emergency committee is the latest agency to launch an appeal for funds to tackle the food crisis in east africa. hundreds of thousands of people are streaming out of the worst areas of somalia into refugee camps in other parts of the region. 1300 people are seeking help. it has become the biggest camp in the world with a population of 350,000 people. own is there. >> they flock here in the thousands. somali refugees are desperate to escape civil war and now their latest curse, drought. infants are the weakest of the new arrivals. there's not much of them to measure. the

and residents set up makeshift barricades to keep syrian groups fr from destroying hama again.nch of a deadly crackdown against an up rising that was being conducted by the muslim brotherhood. human rights organizations said the methods used by tregime wer merciless. now, last month in hama, activist were saying demonstrationists were being killed, and then interestingly over the last few weeks, we saw the syrian military, the security apparatus, largely with draw from hama and appearing peacef peaceful demonstrations to take place. people who were on site was describing it as being a scene to the square in cairo. and then the government without giving any reason, the military appears to be launching the beginning of a crackdown. >> obviously the demonstrators are calling for a call assad regime. does the regime see this as a fundamental threat to its existence? >> reporter: what has been interesting, we have on numerous occasions, since the up rising began more than three months ago, we have been seeing the government talk about concessions and talking about reforms. when we s

watched observed clearly what mr bush on the leader of hamas has said in the meeting in which we signed the reconciliation agreement the man has really mentioned the word israel six times in his speech he talked about an independent police estate on the west bank and gaza and not. the what today is israel. never talked at all about destroying the state of israel he could be talked about continuing to commit to a cease fire and not violent. period and since he. signed that agreement not one bullet was fired across the gaza border. he also trust the president bob as with continuing negotiations whenever he receives. assurances that this negotiation will produce a process i think how masses remarkably committed itself to a change in position as far as i understand the palestinian authority still hoping to go ahead with this united nations vote on the recognition of the palestinian state in september i still hoping to get those one hundred thirty votes that you initially sat here sides on absolutely we have one hundred and sixteen countries who have. recognized independent palestinian state

representing the phantom homeland and then you know better than i did if their political rivals hamas us still is still plotting to destroy israel if any peace settlement is inside do you think they will change that position or do you have any leverage to make them change their position on this issue we have any observer who. watched observed clearly what mr bush on the leader of hamas has said in the meeting in which we signed the reconciliation agreement the man has really mentioned the word israel six times in his speech he talked about an independent because this tape on the west bank and gaza not. being what today is israel. never talked at all about destroying the state of israel he could talk about continuing to commit to a cease fire and not violence to a clinic and since he signed that agreement not one bullet was fired across the gaza border. he also crossed the president abbas with could be doing negotiations whenever he receives. assurances that this is the question should produce a cross i think have masses remarkably committed itself to a change in position as far as i u