iran was steadfastly opposed to the oslo process. did not want to see the palestinians make peace with israel. and found a faction that steadfastly opposed it as well so began to throw money in their direction. now, this shiite/sunni divide played a factor in the early goings because there was this sort of inherent distrust between these different sects within islam but over the years, we saw hamas, palestinians islamic jihad other rejectionist groups rely upon iran for operational support for weapons, for financing in order to attack israel and this was their common goal and this is where really they found ways of working together. i would also add that iran actively drove a sort of a stake between the palestinian factions between hamas and fatah. iran openly called for arafat's assassination which appealed to certain members within hamas. and we sort of saw this animosity grow over time due to the fact that hamas was really getting the support from iran and fatah was not. that fatah was sort of -- was being made fun of as sellouts

we had a number of different meetings that began in oslo tricky was hosted by the norwegians in 2006. we were able to get a signature in december of 2008. i am very happy that we have 107 nations on board with a global ban of cluster bombs. i have to say that personally, it was a great success, for me, having stood in my first cluster bomb field in 2003 and seeing the news again in complex. now, i was able to say hopefully it will not be a problem for anyone else in the future. there is a but. but who did not sign? who did not come on board? russia, china, india, brazil, israel, the united states of america.

and we did from a number of different meetings that began in oslo.t was hosted by the norwegians in 2006. we were able to get signature in december 3rd and 4th in december of 2008. and i'm very happy that we have 107 nations on board a global ban of cluster bombs and so i have to say personally that was a great success for me having stood in my first cluster bomb field in 2003 in iraq and seeing them used time and again in conflict. and so you being able to say, hopefully, that's not going to be a problem again for anyone in the future. there's a but. but who did not sign? who did not come on board? russia, china, india, brazil, israel, the united states of america. and so now we are engaged in a strong advocacy campaign to get those nations on board the treaty. to get those past users, abusers, stockpilers to join the treaty. now we have some good short-term news. shortly after coming into office, president obama signed legislation that basically makes it illegal for the u.s. to transfer cluster bombs anywhere else. now, that's great news. the probl