our veteran middle east correspondent martin fletcher reports tonight from the west bank. >> reporter: all the symbols, the drums, the flags, the v for victory. palestinians celebrating today. >> i want my whole country but for now i will settle for this. >> reporter: rallies in all the major towns in support of mahmoud abbas and statehood, the day off for civil servants and school kids. [ chanting in foreign language plaintiff's exhibit -- >> reporter: down with israel, they chant, up with palestine. police confined the rallies to city centers to avoid clashes with israeli soldiers. it didn't work everywhere. but there were no serious injuries and clashes didn't spread. the rallies stayed calm. the main message here today is to thank the palestinians who died in a struggle but fighting against israel but also to support their president mahmoud abbas in the united nations. to find out how true this really is we revisited alla sanakrai. he was a leader of the militant martyrs brigade. his two brothers were killed by israeli soldiers. he took an amnesty. now he's a 29-year-old security

martin fletcher, nbc news, the west bank. >>> there is news tonight about this nation's schools and the no child left behind law that sparked controversy even before it went into effect today. president obama announced he will change some key parts of no child left behind. essentially gutting the george w. bush administration's signature education reform law. we get details tonight from nbc's kristen welker at the white house. >> reporter: today, president obama announced the largest change to public education in nearly a decade arguing our schools are failing our students. >> today as many as a quarter of our students aren't finishing high school. >> reporter: states can now opt out of no child left behind. president bush's signature domestic initiative which requires students to meet targets in reading and math by 2014 or schools face stiff penalties including decreased federal funding. recent estimates show roughly 80% of schools were headed toward failure. >> teachers too often are being forced to teach to the test. >> reporter: here's how it works. states apply for a waiver from no

more from nbc's martin fletcher. >> reporter: palestinians call this their moment of truth, bethlehem today kicked off a week of west bank rallies in support of their bid to join the united nations as a full member state, the palestinian dream. flagmakers are working around the clock. this man wants the palestinian flag to hang from every car and house. >> i'm so happy and excited and at the same time because i want to have a palestinian country to live in and to be free. >> reporter: about many israelis think no good can come of this. >> they don't want peace. >> i think it will be war. >> reporter: israel and america warned palestinian president mahmoud abbas not to call for palestinian state in the security council. >> i call on president abbas to resume peace negotiations, direct negotiations, right now without any preconditions. >> reporter: inspired by people, libya, egypt, tunisia, syria, yemen, palestinians also want change. their leaders say they have no alternative but to try something new, the 20 years of peace talks have gotten them nowhere. >> we will take all measures to

joining me now is martin fletcher live in tel aviv. good day to you. >> reporter: hi, craig. >> let's start with what the president said last year. president obama last year indicated that the united states of america might be open toll palestinian statehood. what has changed since then? >> reporter: well, more than open to it. president obama said that by september 2011 this month he hoped and expected there would be a palestinian state but what he meant was that negotiations between palestinians and the israelis would lead to a palestinian state. what he did not mean was there would be any unilateral move by either side and in this case the palestinians asking the u.n. to declare a palestinian state is not what president obama meant at all because they believes that would be counterproductive and not lead to a peaceful palestinian state but an end of negotiations with israel. that's not what the americans want. >> part of the mystery here is that abbas may ask for statehood or go a different route. for membership, enhanced observer s

fletcher >> carl m. flickinger ew flocko. >> john joseph florio >> joseph walken flounders writes i read on behalf of my brother, patrick doyer, and my cousin, collins, gregory, and martiny. daddy would be so proud of you. >> david fodor >> michael n. fodor >> stephen mark fogel >> thomas foley >> thomas foley