it was not the palestinian liberation organization. it was the palestine liberation organization because it was not formed with any thought of creating an independent palestine. the point was simply to liberate palestine from the juice so that could become part of this on the bus arab state that this year a spouse. if you look at the palestinian national charter to and which was adopted in 1964 committed makes no mention of having a palestinian state or sovereignty for the palestinians. it is all about the palestinians as part of the arab nation. but the defeat of the arabs in 1967 was so devastating and humiliating that it destroyed his prestige and with the destruction of his prestige it also destroyed the idea of pan-arabism. that, in turn, cleared the field for the emergence in the next year some of palestinian nationalism. palestinian nationalism have been advocated by a few palestinians among arafat and some of this friends who were mostly working in kuwait. and that was their headquarters. and over the years after 1967 they moved into the plo and to

also, on tuesday, the palestine liberation organization held a committee meeting, and as a result ofhat meeting, the negotiations with hamas and jihad are ongoing to try to reach a final ceasefire agreement that could be put to israel for its response earlier. the secretary general of the plo had already been agreed on by all of the palestinian sections, but later, it emerged that the relations are ongoing. israel, for its part, has not yet responded formally to the ceasefire talks from the plo, hamas and islamic jihad. but sources are telling us that they are moving to the ceasefire direction, so at least the talks are ongoing, and we understand that they're continuing to be mediated, and all of this. >> negotiating with palestinians can be complicated. the largest faction of the plo in the west bank, until hamas takes control of the strip in 2007. hamas is lined with the jihad faction. most reasonable in april, and last morning the two groups announced a unity government. but new they appear to be unable it make an agreement over the ceasefire deal. now professor at woodrow wilson

. >>> the palestine liberation organization called for a 24-hour humanitarian cease-fire in gaza today, but hamas rejected it saying at the present times to hear from israel first. israel intensified the offensive in gaza. palestinian health officials say at least 100 people in gaza were killed just today. israel attacked several hamas targets in gaza. palestinian officials say israel shelled the only power plant in the area. that will make life much more difficult for the area's nearly 2 million residents. nicole johnston has more for gaza. >> reporter: this is as bad as it gets for the electricity supply. the power station is up in smoke. no one has ever seen anything like this here before. it's been burning out of control for hours. too dangerous to send crews in to try and put it out. there's been tank shelling around this power station for days, and now it's taken another direct hit. they're trying to repair this, and it could take months. all the plant's fuel is burning. >> the power plant has been targeted several times for the last couple of days, and we have informed all of th

. >>> a member of the executive committee of the palestine liberation organization accuses israel of being a rogue state. >> well, israel is engaged in war crimes. it is engaged in fate terrorism. it is targetting and killing civilians. it has destroyed the very foundations of any meaningful negotiation. also, it has down that earlier with its ongoing settlement activity, land theft, land grab. dem lyingses, theft, demolitions, all indicating that israel is not a peace partner, but is a rogue state that exists outside the law. there is no way we can come to any peace agreement with such a country, unless it abandons terrorism, unless it abandons its policy of intimidation, assault, attack and bombing and destruction, and unless it abides by international law. otherwise, this is going to be a situation where israel insists on holding people in captivity and bashing and killing and bombing them to smither eaches, and we will -- smithereens, and we will say they have to face judicial accountability in all the world courts that are supposed to curb and try war criminals. >>> nisreen el-s

are following new developments in the middle east, where a senior official with the palestine liberation organization called for a 24-hour cease-fire in the fighting, but it does not look like either israel or hamas are buying in. nbc's richard engel has more on this new violence from gaza city. >> reporter: after at least ten israeli soldiers were killed, israel pounded the gaza strip overnight, including strikes directly in and around gaza city. the home of a hamas leader was destroyed. hamas' television station and radio station were both destroyed. we could feel buildings shaking here in gaza city, as there were attacks from israeli warships in the mediterranean and air strikes including f-1 hf 1-16 s. >> we struck their leadership premises in order to strike their capabilities to carry out the ongoing onslaught against israel. >> but perhaps most importantly for the people of gaza, a main electrical power plant was seriously damaged. the fuel storage facilities for that power plant directly hit, sending flames leaping up into the sky. there were already power cuts and power rationing here in gaz

also on tuesday the palestine liberation organization held a committee meeting, and as a result of that meeting said that negotiations with hamas and islamic jihad is ongoing to reach a final cease-fire agreement that could be put to israel for its response earlier. the secretary general of the plo has said that the cease-fire had already been agreed upon by all the palestinians sections, but later it emerged that negotiation negotiations are still ongoing. now israel for its part has not yet responded formerly to this cease-fire talk from the plo, hamas, and the islamic jihad, but forces are telling us that they're moving towards the cease-fire direction. talks are ongoing. we understand that they're continuing to be mediated, and the middle man if you like, all of this is egypt. >> more than 1200 palestinians have been killed in more than 7,000 have been injured. the united nations said nearly 182,000 have been displaced on the gaza side. 56 has been killed in israel. mike viqeira is live for us at at white house. what do the new sanctions involve here? >> reporter: tony, it's been a

encouragement and hope on the palestinian side, particularly after this meeting of the palestine liberation organizationmbrella body for the palestinian factions that met in ramallah late yesterday. and basically is headed by the palestinian president mahmoud abbas. he and other members of the plo came out afterwards backing basically the central demands of hamas for a cease-fire with israel. this really strengthens the palestinian position when it comes to going back to this egyptian effort to mediate some kind of truce and really what they're supporting in particular is the idea there should be the release of many of these palestinian prisoners from israeli jails and also an end to the very tight border restrictions proposed by israel and egypt. they're looking to cairo to reopen the border crossing. at moment, we haven't heard a reply from the hamas leadership to this suggestion and what the palestinian president mahmoud abbas is also saying, there should be a truce followed by five days of negotiations on these crucial issues. >> yolande knell there. there has been a response to navi pillay's words

a case in point, the palestine liberation organization's ambassador to the u.s., maen rashid areikat.fternoon with the newshour's chief foreign affairs correspondent, margaret warner, just an hour before the incursion was announced. >> reporter: ambassador areikat, thank you for having us. >> thank you. >> reporter: well after this five-month lull, in fact fierce fighting has resumed. more rockets, more killings in gaza. what is it going to take to end this thing? >> i think it will take the efforts of many parties. it's not only israel and palestinian factions who are engaged in intense efforts to reach a cease-fire. the palestinian president yesterday arrived in cairo, had talks with hamas officials, with egyptian officials. he's planning on going to turkey tomorrow, to qatar. there are very, very intense efforts right now to somehow breach the gaps between the two sides. i personally believe that it is a matter of time before they reach a cease-fire. >> reporter: so you mean, even though we see all this violence going on that this separate track, the diplomatic track, you think sti

kertzer, mark, the chief spokesman for netanyahu and diana, a former spokesman for the palestine liberation organization. there are such big stakes for the united states. you are well acquainted with this region. you were ambassador to israel under bush, ambassador to egypt under clinton. how involved should the united states be in this conflict at this point, and do we have viable partners to work with on either side? >> well, this is certainly a moment of raw emotion on both sides. both have suffered rather heinous acts of violence. families are mourning, nations are mourning, and it is a goal and a role for the united states to try to help avoid further escalation. we can't solve this problem, however. the two governments involved, the palestinian authority and israel have to act maturely and have to act beyond the scope of the kind of revenge that their populations are seeking. but the united states can certainly help. we can help foster, for example, security dialogue that has been missing over the past couple of weeks and months. we can try to reinstill some hope in the peace process that's lie --

tomorrow margaret will interview the palestine liberation organization's ambassador to the u.s., maenhid areikat. you can see all of her interviews in this series, on our world page. >> ifill: next, the immigration divide. a new washington post/abc news poll shows a majority of americans agree on one aspect of the debate, they don't like how politicians are handling the situation: 58% disapprove of what president obama has been doing and 66% disapprove of how house republicans have handled it. we take a look now at a small southwestern city on the frontlines of the crisis. since june 27, it's become a temporary home for some of the thousands of families who have entered the u.s. illegally. special correspondent kathleen mccleery reports. >> reporter: the hot, dry, dusty town of artesia sits about 70 miles north of the mexico border in southeastern new mexico. it's rich in oil and gas and home to ranches and farmland. most people in this red part of a blue state are conservative. phillip burch has been mayor for seven years. >> by and large, the community would prefer this installation

the secretary general of the palestine liberation organization is calling for 24 hour cease-fire in gaza. he is also speaking in the name of hamas. israeli government says it will not seriously consider that cease-fire proposal until it hears from hamas directly. meanwhile, gaza's only power plant was shut down overnight after it was hit with shells. along with constant bombings and attacks, palestinians are dealing with power shortages. it's the middle of the afternoon now, but last night saw the heaviest bombardment of rockets since the conflict began this month. and that's what it looked like as rockets hit the building that housed hamas's tv and radio networks. israeli war planes pounded other areas of the gaza strip with bombs and flairs all night turning the dark sky orange. today alone, 71 people were killed. bringing the total number of dead on both sides to nearly 1,200. >>> back here at home, strike teams standing guard outside homes and businesses around owe similarity ready to fight off flames from a wild fire that's been burning out of control since saturday. it has already

hanan ashrawi, the palestine liberation organization committee member there. what difference can john kerry make here and can he find a midpoint between the turkish proposal for a cease-fire and the hamas side and what they want to see, it's a mess. >> poor john kerry has his work cut out for him. we have seen little to no progress in all the trips he's made since becoming the u.s. secretary of state. no peace process is underway. a cease-fire is the best he can hope for at the moment. the major problem now is that the united states has said they want to back the egyptian proposal. unfortunately, hamas is not talking to egypt and not interested in the proposal as we stated. so at this point john kerry is going to land in cairo and is landing in the wrong place. and he's going to be talking to the wrong people. and until they can refigure this narrative to where somehow hamas is involved and feels as if their economic interests will be met in some way, i don't think that you're going to see them in terms of letting up. and they are not going to stand down, i sh

let's go over, if we can, to the member of the executive committee of the palestine palestinian liberation organization. joins me now live from ramallah. we have disturbing pictures out of al aqsa hospital. i mean, as i said, disturbing that civilians are wounded. this looks like a mess. a person like you, you're not a member with hamas and you're with the plo and have been engaged with israel in peace talks. will this kind of military activity strengthen the commitment of palestinians to peace or encourage people to think about other options as a way of as they could see it getting their rights back? >> well, israel is engaging in war crimes and state terrorism. it is targeting and killing civilians. it has destroyed the very foundations of any meaningful negotiation. also it has done that earlier with the ongoing settlement activity, land theft and home demolitions and all these things have indicated that israel is not only not a peace partner but is a rouge state that exists outside the law. there is no way we can come to any peace agreement with such a country unless it abandons its terrorism, unle

palestinian president mahmoud abbas and form legal woman and spokeswoman for the plo, palestine liberation organization. great to see you. thanks for coming in. >> thank you, thank you, kate. >> of course. i mean, violence, you know this better than anybody. violence between israelis and palestinians, this unfortunately is not new, but you do wonder when you see those pictures of those boys' faces, those four young boys, when and why did it get to a point that killing innocent teenagers was part of this? the big problem, kate, is nobody is really looking at the root causes of the violence, and this isn't violence for the sake of violence. unfortunately, it comes within a political context which is 47 years of the denial of freedom of palestinians. when it came to this latest attack on this young boy whose body was torched, it was not only fact of the denial of freedom but the fact that the israeli government went out of its way to incite israelis to violence. it was everything from the israeli prime minister calling for revenge, to israeli ministers also calling for blood, and so it's unsurprising -- >