what impact have those situations in libya, in tunisia have they had on the palestinian-israeli situation, particularly on palestinians? >> guest: well, i think the impact -- the biggest impact was the change in egypt and we're still in a very unknown period. but the change -- the potential change of the government -- or the change of the government there and the potential change of the relationship between egypt and israel and one thing you need to understand, to understand how nervous israelis are right now about what's going on around them because this is really -- this is a cataclysmic change we're seeing. for three to four decades we've had exactly the same families in power in all of these arab states. one interesting point is that for the first time in the history of the middle east, in the modern history, you're not hearing israel blamed for all these problems for these arab capitals. the first time the arab street are not say that all their problems is because of the israeli-palestinian conflict is not solved. it is interesting and it's an interesting development. the situation i

we always hear, if we just can go back to the peace process and get the israelis and palestinians talking as they did when you talk been -- itzyak rabin was on the scene. during the time we live there, the psychological landscape between the israelis and palestinians changed to such a degree. you need to come at the problem with a new perspective as to how both sides were changed. >> -- host: what did they not understand about the conflict that you think they should understand, given that you were on the ground? guest: the way these issues have become more difficult. the economies were very much integrated. israelis and palestinians could travel back and forth. every day, palestinians were like commuters. they would come to work in israel and go home at the end of the day. israel is would go to the west bank. there was economic integration to a degree. the kinds of segregation and divisions have become much more permanent and locked in place. these will be hard to reverse. you just cannot go back a decade and dust off the old plan. host: when you first arrive, was it that sparked the decl

just to get the palestinians to it we said it was but netanyahu is trip to washington and his negotiations were unquestionably a failure but the question is was it a failure of israeli policy of american policy or of palestinian hopes what would you say. i don't think that it was a failure to do things or know so well actually move the process and leaders i believe that it was and moment of clarity we claim that the israeli palestinian conflict he's long innately in the international arena to include among our allies but to many misconceptions what a conflict is a is about those who claim good year. israeli palestinian conflict is a call for instability in the middle east it is nonsense how many conflict as oh isn't she a sunni we are not involved in a question of what we are we don't take part in eight sixty million violence in our countries we are non-zero it is not because of our even the op izing now in the of countries it's not because of islam so we unite and we have to compete billy cleanly and fourth of all alice and go to believe that the conflict started in sixty seven and it's again it's a lie so reject the obsolete gippi the idea of the jewish state you

. >> where do things stand between the israelis and the palestinians democrats the relations between eli prime minister and the white house of being described as cool and frosty, yet they continue to push to get an agreement between the palestinian people and the israelis. guest: this is a critical time. i just came from the strip. it is clear that the prospect it is clear that the prospect of any kind of political move in the short term is very small. heading into the fall, whether you are going to have the palestinians -- barring a change or renewal -- going to the un assembly to request that they recognize the palestinian state on the 1967 borders, they are likely to get a majority to support that. that is going to generate whole sets of events that are going to be troubling in many ways for the israelis, troubling for the relationship. in the last couple of days the former head of the israeli mossad has been warning that he is worried about the intense pressure coming on israel in the fall. he has admitted that some israeli leaders might be thinking about striking iran. all of the

palestinian. as you can imagine, the israelis did not want the world, especially the americans, to know they gazednd at book cleansing. they invented a series of missile what happened that made it look like the palestinians were responsible for their own demise and not the israelis themselves. but this was not true. >> host: john mearsheimer, "why leaders lie." was it of fun book to look right? speech you very much of fun but to write because i did not know much about the subjects. i was sort of feeling my way around in the dark. i learned a lot in the process. i ended up surprising myself. as i said before, actually thought i was going to end up telling a very different story which is that there is lots of lying in international politics. we liked each other all the time. but i found that the case is there isn't much linage national politics, and i was even more surprised to find out the leaders lot more often to their own people than they do to foreign audiences. so i am learning new things. it's really kind of exciting and fun. what this academic enterprise is supposed to be all about.

change from positive change from occurring and third i think is there is a need to resolve the israeli palestinian conflict as well there has to be a decisive attempt to end the israeli occupation of palestine to end the brutal oppression of palestinians because that has been a tool that is exploited by many governments in the region and on. to thwart change and to distract people from from internal problems well i guess the reason why regimes for example like the syrian regime still has some level of popularity is that they're able to say well look ok maybe we're not very nice to our people but look at our policy toward israel we're standing up. if i can add to what has to be taken from if i could go to david i mean what is top of mind you think for western leaders and political leaders is it just a real arrangement of the political order in the arab world to serve western interests ok all right mubarak's gone ok ben ali's gone but we have to find a new mubarak we have to find a new ben ali maybe with a more kind of semi democratic face which makes everyone feel more comfortable but they just wan

don't think this is a good idea and i think it's a complete disaster if you try and solve the israeli palestinian. along those lines they have got the only way it can be done is if they do it together by themselves with the sort of i think intervention there that obama is trying to bring about but you don't have because you don't have a situation that can result itself you have one party which has control over everything has a monopoly on power and i systematically undermining the other people's right to self-determination they're squeezing them into smaller and smaller and we have this information ok i really need an escalator will produce alan i noticed you want to jump in there go ahead. yeah i mean just i mean i think omar's aspirations and his policy prescriptions you know in principle are fine but the problem is again they're so they're overly simplistic he keeps talking about how you know we have to accept what the people of these countries want there isn't one people in these countries in bahrain they are terribly divided between sunni and shiite similarly in syria the terribly divided be

they will carry weapons for hamas which will then use them to attack israeli cities and therefore if you really care for the palestinians use either egypt or israeli ports and land crossings to bring in humanitarian goods why do it through the sea when israel says it won't allow it to happen because of its security unless you really are seeking a provocation ok only if i go to you in chicago why would this flotilla under any circumstances at all bring arms as part of a humanitarian and never i mean this is this a decent so counterintuitive i don't understand why the israelis are so upset about this unless they just don't want to see a precedent to be set where a flotilla can break the blockade that's what it's all about not security breaking the blockade is that right or wrong. well nobody believes that there are going to be arms on these ships not even the israeli government and as it's reported yesterday and i quote verbatim security officials and and foreign ministry representatives informed the cabinet on sunday that israel has no information indicating that terrorists or anyone affiliated with a terror group is pla

just to give the palestinians tell it we said it was netanyahu is trip to washington and his negotiations were unquestionably a failure but the question is was it a failure of israeli policy of american policy or of palestinian helps. i don't think that it was a failure of things or no so coarsely move the process i believe i believe that it was and moment of clarity we claim that the israeli palestine conflict he's nominated in the international arena to include among our allies but too many misconceptions what a conflict is of is about those those who claim vidia israeli palestinian conflict is a call for instability in the middle east it is nonsense how many conflicts and village of shia sunni we are not involved in it persian are what we are we don't take part in neat sectarian violence in ins are countless we are not zero it is not because of our even the operating now or in the of cantons is. because of islam so we unite and we have to compete very clearly in front of all allies and those who believe that the conflict started in sixty seven it's a game it's a lie the reject the outside egypt is the idea of the jewish state even before the creation of the stor

oddly enough i didn't feel in the israeli-palestinian context that anyways. i don't think that i have been. people still ask me to speak about that or read about it. you just have to pick your spots. >> pick your spot exactly. the middle east is really the world is a big spot to pick. whether parts about this book you actually had originally included, for example, maybe something about u.s. politics that you ended up excising from the book? >> you know, there is a lot that a deal with in this book. it could have dealt with the impact of a threat to al qaeda to destroy a major western city, which is one of the plot points in the book by how that affected the u.s. political scene. i chose not to do much of that company really wanted to keep the focus on the story at hand and keep driving forward. you know, given the current recruitment story, dishonest, poisonous, utterly unhelpful book, you know, i can well imagine that if there's a potential act of nuclear terrorism that the finger-pointing and potential scape came to pick up away. i've got to say even faced

to create in a celebratory atmosphere, hundreds of thousands of palestinians pressing against the checkpoints. at least that's the israeli just so folks are clear, in september, the palestinians have said that they are going to go to the united nations to have the united nations say the palestinian state exists and to have it recognized by the u.n. president obama saying very clearly, this is a bad idea. the united states will oppose it. who will stand by the united states in opposing that effort? will the europeans be with us or not? >> well, the question is, how many european countries can be paired off? the french and the britts, that's what the administration is trying to do. the spanish, the italians, they're also targets of this campaign. but the idea is 192 countries, 116 aligned with the movement, they'll vote with the resolution. in the end, it may well just be israel, the united states, and the marshall islands. that's not the greatest position for the united states to be in. >> does it matter? >> it matters if you want to be on the right side of an issue that has extraordinary resonance in the international co

next we'll look at the state of the salt israeli palestinian peace process in our special interview. with me i have professor governess and they have the former israeli ambassador to the united nations professor thank you very much for joining us here on r.t. thank you with what you were recently quoted as saying that the united states will not veto the u.n. recognition of a palestinian state come september why are you so sure of this i do not think that the united states is not going to record what they said is the united states has their own considerations in we should not act as if the vehicle is in our pocket which you can it is not we must do oldest to avoid the with. middle of the security council nor. is a general assembly in the i think we should not trust the united states but we should. if obama was not to veto the declaration of a palestinian state would he not face political pressure at home i mean after all there is an election that he wants to win you know if. the interest in continuing is way back i i think obama really wants. peace in the world and especially in this r

then the other way around and one in five soviet jews has already returned home and with no israeli palestinian peace talks on the horizon and growing israeli insecurity about the arab demonstrations on the doorstep this so-called insurance passport is unlikely to lose popularity any time soon what you see on t.v. television. good news stories for the u.s. economy are few and far between with mass job cuts layoffs and growing national debt however some are staying optimistic saying things could be even worse as our own resident in new york found out. all the latest data indicates the global economy is going limp are you personally affected this week let's talk about that have you felt the facts of the bad economy need a better job of this economy is not giving me a better job yeah because i try to go to college and then i can because car my car gas is all expensive and school so expensive so small in the vicious cycle is really bad but i'm happy because brazil is growing like for me it's good so is that kind of the way it goes when when some countries are hurting other countries can prosper mor

. >> where do things stand between the israelis and the palestinians democrats the relations betwe the israeli prime minister and the white use of being described as cool and frosty, yet they continue to push to get an agreement between the palestinian people and the israelis. guest: this is a critical time. i just came from the strip. it is cle that the prospect it is cle that the prospect of any kind of political move in the short term is very small. heading into the fall, whether you are going to have the palestinians -- barring a change orenewal -- going to the un assembly to request that they recognize the palestinian state on the 1967 borders, they are likely to get a majority to support that. that is going to generate whole sets of events that are going to be troubling in many ways for the israelis, troubling for the relationship. in the last couple of days the former head of the israeli mossad has been warning that he is worried about the intense pressure coming on israel in the fall. he has admitted that some israeli leaders mighte thinking about striking iran. all of these is

then the other way around one in five or so if you choose has a week returned home and with no israeli palestinian peace talks on the horizon and growing israeli and security of our demonstrations on the doorstep this so-called insurance passport is unlikely to lose popularity any time soon points leader r.t. television. news for the economy has fewer power between with layoffs austerity and growing u.s. national debt some are staying optimistic saying things could be worse as our resident on the streets of new york. all the latest data indicates the global economy is going limp are you personally affected this week let's talk about that have you felt the effects of a bad economy need a better job this economy is not a better job yes i try to go to college and i can't because car my car gas is all expensive at school so expensive so it's on the vicious cycle is really bad but i'm happy because brazil is growing like for me. so is that kind of the way because when some countries are hurting other countries can prosper more yeah greece is looking bad spain is looking bad i feel like we're on the rig

closely for you over the coming hours tonight next that we look at the state of the stored israeli palestinian peace process in our special interview. with me i have professor guppy ellison live the former israeli ambassador to the united nations professor thank you very much for joining us here on r.t. thank you for you were recently quoted as saying that the united states will not veto the u.n. recognition of a palestinian state come september why are you so sure of this i did not say the united states is not going to veto but they so this is the united states has their own considerations. we should not act as if the victoria is the mail pocket which it is it is not we must do our best pleased. with the lucian to come near the poor the the security council nor to the. general assembly. i think we should not trust the united states to vehicle but we should trust ourselves if obama was not to veto the declaration of a palestinian state would he not face political pressure at home i mean after all there is an election that he wants to win you know every politician is interested in continuing bu