and this applied to middle east policy as well, and in the case of the middle east, he wanted to show that he unlike george bush is a friend of the arab and muslim world, and so one of the first things he did, and in fact, the first interview he gave was not to the washington post of the "new york times," but it was to an arab publication, and one of the first foreign policy speeches he gave was where? cairo. he went and gave a very good speech in cairo. i thought it was a very good speech in trying to explain to the muslim world to make the case that the united states is not in any kind of conflict with islam or with the arab world, and that we want to be on good relations, perfectly good speech, nothing i would complain about, but the problem was that what was the impact in terms of the miss lum world? did the muslim world fall in love with barak obama as a result of the speech? well, in fact, they didn't, and if you look at some of the recent polls, you see he has not popular in the arab and islam world. he's more popular than george bush, but has not won them over by policy or spe

leaving their birthplace bush chanting has its origin in the middle east and used to be the region's major religion one significant christian communities are now shrinking to miniscule enclaves the public opinion fondation also russians what they associate with jerusalem the holiest city of judaism christianity and islam twenty six percent of the respondents cited christianity nineteen percent holy places fourteen percent associated this it would do while a slam and judaism all cited only by two percent of the respondents each nevertheless the fact remains christian is now on retreat in the middle east took. a ok i'd like to go back to david here david in the beginning of the program we heard a comment that the one of the reasons for the exit is of christians is because of islamic fundamentalism and extremism but there would be people who would make the claim that there is. religious fundamentalism extremism on the on the jewish side in marginalizing christians as well getting stuck in the middle is this or maybe just more gentle the polarization of attitudes regarding religion is th

and the palestinian state is that over the years they are you fighting in the middle east they ok fine so it's a return to these years years so is that a yes then though if i were giving all of my time to the us than any citizenship he could get this is this is this is not the state of israel this is not the state of israel this is the occupied territories and i dream of the. wrong times israel jewel it won't come. come out. due to the conflict. with. each other david go ahead go ahead john. if alec if alex wanted palestinian show a palestinian citizen ship he could have it he is talking about a unique situation why christians are leaving but the handful they're trying to come back and then you can almost see in a million christians that it is wrong for him to be deceitful and that it's not right no no look this it's not a policy and you christians are the same to any any and sue of left the land and the exempt are separate in the you lose your rights to be a jerusalem all right residency all right david david that's what i think i do know if you would say to folks i go to you i want t

russia's deputy foreign minister recently visited the middle east up next he tells r.t. that it's time for the world community to fully step up to the plate to get the peace talks between israelis and palestinians back on track. mr sultan of you recently visited syria and lebanon where you met the leaders of these two countries you also met how it must show in damascus where you said that israel settlement policy in the occupied arab lands was the main stumbling point to the resumption of palestinian israeli talks does russia have a clear vision of how to get out of a situation like that. it's true that israel settlement policy in the occupied outer blonds has become an obstacle to the resumption of direct palestinian israeli talks i should say that the present situation has shown the need for the international community to step up its participation and assistance in the solution of the palestinian problem that it has become obvious that the way this problem used to be solved until recently and the means in the methods that we have turned out to be insufficient that is w

first of all the main objection of the middle east settlement is to create an independent palestinian state within the boundaries of one nine hundred sixty seven with possible territorial swaps this is a solution a formula which is accepted by the entire international community the thought that calls for the recognition of such a state have recently become more active is on the one hand indicative that a number of countries are dissatisfied with the current situation. on the other hand it underscores the inevitability of this ultimate goal of achieving peace and resuming the negotiating process. as you know shortly after the palestinians are names the creation of a palestinian state russia recognize the fact of this announcement and the palestinian state itself. the embassy of the state of palestine is located in moscow the russian embassy operates in the palestinian territories this makes it evident that russia and the palestinian side of a common view of the fact the palestinian people should have their own state which should be recognized by the international community. but. israel

of the respondents each never the less the fact remains and christian is now on retreat in the middle east being took. ok i'd like to go to back to david here david in the beginning of the program we heard a comment that the one of the reasons for the exit is of christians is because of islamic fundamentalism and extremism but there would be people who would make the claim that there is. religious fundamentalism extremism on the on the jewish side and marginalizing christians as well getting stuck in the middle is this or maybe just more gentle the polarization of attitudes regarding religion is this squeezing christians out because they don't feel as we heard early in the program don't feel particularly comfortable in the muslim community and they don't feel particularly comfortable anymore in the jewish community is you know it's the issue of polarization of religion and i guess where it meets politics. well i i'm not going to pretend that the situation is perfect for christians within israel but you don't see the exodus of christians from israel like you do from the palestinian areas or

with peace in the middle east still elusive.e commemorated the 63rd anniversary of the 1947 united nations plan to petition palestine into two states, and yet the conflict continues, and the solution remains just an idea. many israelis have fought multiple wars since with untold suffering of innocent people on both sides. when my late husband anwar sadat broke through the cage of pain and hopelessness, by visiting jerusalem and declaring no more wars, he was speaking for millions for peace and justice. yet, despite much progress since then, and the end of war between egypt and israel, the comprehensive peace has yet to be reached. at the core of such peace and elusive circumstances between israel and palestinians. to his credit, president barack obama understood from his first day in office how important it is real-palestinian conflict is but also to the united states into the world. yet, despite active diplomatic efforts, as those of us who have fought for peace for much of our lives are seeing the continuation of conflict, occ

that mr sultan of is anything going to change in the middle east and russia's view. but as the saying goes hope dies last we should have an object.

who's going to be talking with major ceos that we protect in the middle east?oing to go and see your people? because, by the way, we're transporting all your money. you lenders, it's garda who's transporting your money". and i started going, you know, and pointing at every single lender, and saying, "who in the group is going to start doing that?" i said, "remember, this business is worth nothing if i'm not in there. and at the end of the day, if you want the keys, just take the keys, and i'll be back in 12 months, and i'll pick up the business for ten cents on the dollar". so it was, you know, a tough argument. i think they were tough, and i'll never say anything negative around lenders if i'm... you know, if i'm a wealthy individual today, it's because lenders have been good partners in the past. but i think this very candid conversation really turned around this business, because i said, "you're going to let me run this business. we're going to turn around this operation. we're all going to be patient. i'm going to sell some assets, but we're going to make t

discuss the prospects for peace in the middle east i'm joined by omar barghouti in ramallah he is a founding committee member of the palestinian campaign for the academic and cultural boycott of israel in jerusalem we cross to gil hoffman he is the chief political correspondent and analyst at the jerusalem post and in nablus we go to abdul sattar qassam he is a professor of political science at on the national university and another member of our cross talk team yell on the hunger for a gentleman cross talk rules in effect that means you can jump in when you want to go i'd like to go to you first in jerusalem there's words being used the humiliation embarrassment failure they're all being attached to the recent american effort to broker a peace process there mitchell seems to have you know vague ideas how he wants to move forward i mean how much of a failure is this and or maybe we should just be rethinking the entire process because this year deadline when it was announced is hardly possible it's ludicrous actually. the americans did rethink the entire process and they really had to they ha

to have a lot of respect for the native arab christians in the palestinian areas throughout the middle east and what they've had to endure through centuries and centuries of living as second class citizens in a muslim majority and this all predates the jewish returned to the land and the question is how did they maintain a presence here and only start leaving in the last one hundred years and i've talked to many before him bethlehem christians that some of the old timers who remember are the british mandate even the jordanian occupation of bethlehem than the israeli what they would call the occupation and now under the palestinian authority that after they had four sovereigns over them and the last sixty years or so the rate of exodus has been just about the same in the whole time so you really can't say that israelis are israeli policy some sort of official policy chasing christians out of the holy land it's wrong the conflict itself between jewish nationalists. palestinian nationalism that is a big corporate ok alan said big corporate i think alex would agree with him. to jump but i think

is anything going to change in the middle east and russia's view. but as the saying goes hope dies last we should have an objective view of the situation we shouldn't fall into despair but we shouldn't be too optimistic the most important thing is to take a scrutinizing book of the problems encountered by the peace process and work together including the parties concerned i.e. israel and the arabs towards the solution of these problems with an aim of achieving our common goal which is.

that mr sultan of is anything going to change in the middle east and russia's view. but as the saying goes hope dies last we should have an objective view of the situation we shouldn't fall into despair but we shouldn't be too optimistic the most important thing is to take a scrutinizing book of the problems and.

palestine, the spire middle east -- entire middle east was reengineered after world war i, and it was reengineered very badly. henry cabot lodge warned against that and said the notion that we should fix the affairs of, arbitrate between the groups, this was a trap the united states ought not to get into. but, no, people who have shown themselves to be wiser thought that we should, that we should somehow become the arbiters of the world. and, indeed, the fact that we were not, that we did not become the arbiters of the world became an item of environment of which the ruling class accused the american people of respondent for -- responsibility for world war ii. some of your may remember a movie title of which was wilson about woodrow wilson. movie was made in 1944 and the heavy was none other than henry cab pot both -- henry cabot lodge. the move was so outrageous that when franklin roosevelt showed it to winston churchill, churchill walked out in a rage. anyway, the point of it was what every school child has said, the american people have learned. they were unfaithful to wellson, and

humanize the middle east. not to justify terrorism, but explain the context. >> how is it that you hooked up with him in rio? >> as usual, i had a friend that gave me a contact. and suddenly, someone is introduced. end i was lucky, my colleague, wall street journal, danny pearl did something that was a little bit more like an ambush, but not much different, and more danny had his head cut off. i feel very lucky that i got away to tell the story. >> and what did you learn from your contact? >> i think i learned that the way -- the reason that he wanted to kill me after the start of the interview was that he believed that i wanted to kill him. and that is the key thing. you got to remember that in most conflicts when you fraud, it feels much more when you receive the prods than when you give it. that's the main lesson, when america is conducting military expeditions all over the middle east, and plots with clones, you should be award that is felt by the people there. it's not just what is being felt in america t

tony blair is the special envoy for the quartet on the middle east. he's in the united states to address the 2010 saban forum hosted by the brookings institution. mr. prime minister, it goes on and on. now the obama administration has made a decision to step back from trying to persuade israel to freeze settlement expansion. you have called that sensible. why? >> because i think we need to find a way forward now that gives both parties confidence that we can have a negotiation that actually succeeds. and in the meantime, we've got to push ahead and create the change on the ground that's going to make a real difference in the lives of palestinians and also provide the israelis with the assurances they require on security. so you know, we've hit an impasse. it's a problem, but we've got to find a way through. >> larry: but that decision, where does it leave efforts for peace talks? it sounds status quo again. >> well, i think that there's still a lot that's going to go on. one of the interesting things that's happening in the middle east right now and i

should continue to be the main broker in the middle east peace process. the official location. for me. john.

country to country clearly one aspect that has emerged more recently has been the vents in the middle east the state of israel essential truly. semitic incidence in various places particularly in the west but we also seen what some people would call a new form of a if i sell it to someone that's when you're the state of israel itself is the minute is brought into question is the clear to races state essentially where that itself becomes a new form of anti-semitism so you do saying that the ongoing stalemate in the middle east is affecting antisense and globally well at the very least we can certainly demonstrate that conflicts in the middle east may trigger anti-semitic events elsewhere and particularly in europe western europe where you have growing arab and muslim communities they have become a source of anti-semitic incidents at least in. needs of those communities so that's clearly one aspect but then i think even in public discourse there is something about the state of israel that has engendered very paganistic reactions that cross over from a point of being mere criticism and to bec

up next door and peter the valid his gas in a debate over whether the stalled middle east peace talks need a new broker to replace the united states crosstalk is up next. to keep. a low cost of computer a little embarrassing failure this is how many describe washington's most recent attempt to reach a peace settlement in the middle east is it time for the us to drop the pretense of being an honest broker and allow more neutral players to take its place.

but in the middle east we have nothing, and that means that stability in the middle east, the prevention of the radicalization of the middle east with the possibility that the world's oil supplies will come under the control of a hostile, radically anti-western regime -- that is the government of iran -- that, unfortunately, seems to depend almost exclusively on the united states. and that's not a distant challenge, that's a challenge for today. >> yep. now, once again we, meaning the united states, is pushing very hard for an israeli/palestinian settlement. now, not everybody, but a lot of people who are pushing us down this road now and in the past have said, look, this is the key to a whole bunch of other problems as well, and if you can get this one settled, the whole thing will calm down. do you agree with that? or is that -- >> no, that's pie in the sky. it would be nice to have a settlement between israel and be its arab neighbors, especially the palestinians and syria. incidentally, i don't think any such settlement is imminent because i think the syrian regime depends upon it co

share holders in vimpel called may block a merger with middle east mobile giant whether to create the world's fifth largest mobile network the b line operators bosses meet next week to approve the deal with the owner of italy's wind and egypt or us called. before he may not get enough votes to pass the agreement on fears the six point five billion dollars price tag is too high. thing with m. and a activity fringe fun and scrapes the city general has denied its buying d.t.b. stake in spike on thursday v.t. boss andre costin claimed they'd reached a deal on the nineteen point three percent share in russia's largest lender a spokeswoman said there are no plans however to increase the stake in its subsidiary they remain open to talks. let's check out the markets the dax is edging back up to seven thousand points in the opening minutes in frankfurt but the footsies lower continued concern over used it luxembourg prime minister sharon closure because said at the weekend that the current financing agreements all insufficient. the nikkei is closed off last week six months high so only shed ov

shift in the center of gravity of anti-semitism globally from its historic roots in europe to the middle east. the old anti semitism was was a link to a radicalization of christianity and was inseparable from european fascism and naziism beginning in the middle of the twentieth century before the state of israel was founded during the rise of naziism and fascism in europe of cultural fusion began to take place between conspiracy theories in europe. and. an emerging new tradition called islamism not islam but islamism. which which interpreted the religion of islam as an inherently anti semitic religion and this is the new quality of anti-semitism in the world today found in the beliefs and actions of organizations such as hamas hezbollah are al-qaeda and most importantly the government of iran. the. the essence of the new anti semitism is that the state of israel exists in order to destroy islam. and that the solution to the middle east problem is the destruction of the state of israel four members of hamas the government of iran there is no distinction between anti zionism and hatred of the j