what's going on in the middle east, we are joined in boston by former undersecretary of state nicholas burns. nick, good evening. >> good evening. >> mitchell: the israelis have spoken, the palestinians have now spoken. what does this say to you about president obama's plan as he outlined it on thursday? is it already dead in the water? >> i don't think, russ, the president's plan is dead at all. it just means that in the 63rd year of divisions between the palestinians and israelis, this is very tough going. you saw the president give a very forthright speech the other day where he explained the importance of the united states supporting transformation in the arab world, but also of trying to give some momentum to the israeli/palestinian peace negotiations. there were elements of it that the palestinians were weren't happy with. there were lots of elements the israelis weren't happy with. that might mean the president is where he should be, the mediator. he needs to be objective and stand between these two parties to try to move them forward. >> mitchell: let's go back to the photo op from y

. >>> joining us now is nicholas burns who was undersecretary of state under president george w.o have you back with us this morning. >> thank you. >> given the history that bill just laid out here, it would seem that the u.s. presidents and the efforts that they made, really, that's not the issue. it has to be that both the israelis and the palestinians actually want this more than anyone else. wouldn't you say? >> erica, i think that's right. you know, this is a very substantial and important speech that president obama gave. but for all the goodwill in the world on the part of the united states, it does still take the israelis and palestinians to want to come together, to have the political will to make a very tough choices that they need to make on issues like the status of jerusalem, the right of palestinian refugees to return. where should the boundaries and borders be between the palestinians and israeli state? and we've seen in the past, there are times when the palestinians have agreed to that agreement, times when the israelis have. it's rarely been a time when both of