the bottom line here is that the palestinian leadership under mr abbas have to agree to come to the table and talk with the state of israel mr natanya al much to the surprise of the entire world has actually reached out to mr abbas as much as any left wing liberal israeli government has in the you know in the sixty two years since israel was created and mr obama and mr abbas for his reasons has decided not to come to the negotiating table i do believe that mr abbas will come to the negotiating table because mr obama is now pressuring the strobe us but clearly the palestinians have got to negotiate directly with israel and the united states in fact can play a much lower profile if the palestinians israelis get together they can come to his accord just like they did in the oslo accords without american interference in. ninety three ok then again you said something that israeli spokespeople say all of the time you use the d. word disputed robert fisk oh those that territory the west bank and gaza disputed because that's what they say in american mainstream television that's what americ

here is very palestinian conflict is continuing to divide the middle east sat down with journalist and author jonathan koch who says that is when its regional me and i actually benefits from the division. with me i have jonathan cook a freelance journalist and author of three books mr cook thank you very much for joining us here on r.t. you are the only western journalist to be based here in nazareth the largest arab town in israel what kind of different insight does this give you to the conflict as opposed to most foreign journalists who are based in the centers of tel aviv to jerusalem and ramallah at that location itself. tends to select the focus of your work tends to prejudge what the issues major issues here are in the conflict and i think journalists who are based in the normal cities like jerusalem and tel aviv tend to assume that the conflict began in one thousand nine hundred sixty seven that it's a product of the occupation of the palestinian territories the west bank and gaza whereas my focus has been based being based inside israel in a palestinian or arab community howeve

but she's also doing it because it's her people she is a member of the palestinian people. as various commentators in the media pointed out much more sympathetic ones than that with the new find in most of the parliament for instance but they're suggesting that if if there were jews struggling under the same kind of blockade in the same kind of threats that the people of girls are suffering under the first thing that israel would be doing all the jewish people would be doing it would be organizing fertility flotillas of humanitarian aid and the idea that they should be attacked militarily would outrage the world and i don't think that there's anything any reason to take a different view in the case of the palestinians you've stated that israeli prime minister benjamin netanyahu his first term of office was characterized by the deceit of the american president clinton and also attempts to destroy the peace process do you believe that the strategy continues now in his second term of office he's saying to a group of settlers he doesn't think he's being filmed he doesn't realiz

people to protect themselves or to tell the palestinians be able to protect themselves as well. i hope so i'll tell you what you should do is ask the fact of whether hundreds of their fellow members of the thought that we've been thrown out of windows in gaza by the hamas and killed in other areas of the west bank by the hamas will be able to be protected by their own people from their own people by their own people right now the israeli army as is well known by insiders is the only force that is protecting the palestinian authority in ramallah the jordanian monarchy in jordan and the jewish people and the and the israeli people who are not jewish dan i'm going to have to jump in here the muslim again i'm going to jump in here robert i want to give you the last word robert i want to give you last word go ahead one minute. first of all ma'ale adumim is partly built on totally provable arab land i know one of the land homes there i watched him being thrown off i watched him going to court in the court they said this he said i would like to live in my ma'ale adumim with the jews an

minority and not feel threatened by me today that are there are several palestinian parties but none of them have ever been allowed to serve in the government none of them of held any positions of responsibility what's happy. and is that you can only participate in the government if you subscribe to this position which is that the jews are a privileged population inside the country this isn't just about the parliament it applies to many other kinds of spheres of life for them for instance there is no palestinian minority have no control over their schooling their curriculum is decided by the jewish majority. it was only revealed a few days ago that for the first time in sixty years sixty years after israel's creation that there would be bus services running to arab communities in your book blood and religion you've accused israel of a long slow process of ethnic cleansing but do you not think the fact that since nine hundred forty nine the arab israeli population as well as the palestinian population within the west bank and gaza the fact that those populations have quote considerabl

we are waiting over the palestinians for this for years.t's totally -- inconsistent with the 21st century and with our own needs. we need a solid, jewish majority under our control. we are not doing the favor to the palestinians by entering into these direct negotiations. it's oun own interest to have this two-state solution to eliminate a border inside the land of israel not because we don't have biblical rights but the realities are that there are millions of palestinians there, they have their nation aspiration, they want their state. if we continue to reign over them, we will become inevitably, either nondemocratic or nonjewish and neither alternative is implementation of the vision. >> charlie: you cannot afford to be either nondemocratic or nonjewish for the future of the state of israel. >> yeah. yeah. yeah. if this bloc of millions of palestinians vote, it's a binational state even if we call jewish a local state. if they cannot vote, it's not a democratic system. we cannot establish the zionic vision with a nondemocratic state. so

i think it's important to make peace with the palestinians. and i'm prepared to negotiate that peace right away. i think it requires courage on the palestinian side for all those who don't really want a peace with israel to stand up and do what president -- the late president of egypt, anwar sadat did, and to say, hey, it's over, no more war, no more bloodshed. we're going to make a genuine peace with israel. i'm prepared to have a demilitarized state live next to the jewish state of israel. i think the palestinians should not be either subject of israel or citizens of israel. they should have their own independent country. we should be assured that this country is not used as a staging ground for iranian-sponsored terrorist attacks on us. and i think this combination of state for the palestinians and security for israel is something that can be brought about in direct negotiations that i propose to start without any preconditions, without any pretext. >> larry: right. >> leaders don't need excuses. they just have to get on with it and i'm pre

your plans the palestinians have struggled to counteract israel's initiatives because they've been so divided. it's been a very useful strategy inside israel in the occupied territories what is the solution we disappoint to a one state solution i'm support anything that brought peace and gave palestinians and israeli jews the right to live happy contented lives. the question is how do you achieve that now some people say you can do it through two state solution i don't actually think that's even technically possible any longer if it ever was we're talking about very small areas of land that would be left to the palestinians nobody's talking about it being a militarized state who control the borders i mean there are all sorts of questions that nobody really wants to look at in any kind of depth at the moment because everybody knows the answers would mean that this wouldn't really be a proper state jonathan karl thank you very much for joining us here on r.t. . let me. be easy. to laugh. laugh. laugh. comes.

local palestinians were kept back until they passed by. israeli nationalists have expanded the jewish presence here enormously. but tension rising again, there are new warnings that peace is impossible of palestinian rights in this city are ignored. -- if palestinian rights and in this city are ignored. bbc news, in east jerusalem. >> the latest figures from china showed the rate of growth is slowing. gdp growth in the three months to june was 10.3% according to government figures released today. that is down from 11.9% in previous months. a bigger drop than the market was expecting. an iranian nuclear scientist tickets appeared a year ago and resurfaced this week in washington has returned to tehran. he says he was kidnapped by the cia, which washington rejects. he says he was subjected to extreme mental and physical torture by america. lithuanians is of serbian -- lithuanians is observing the anniversary of a battle. a parade in re-enactment commemorated the event. it was at this event that the polish alliance prevailed. an open champion

changing the whole discourse in israel into one in which the assumption is that palestinians are not loyal they have should have no rights they have to prove their loyalty and so this is very much part of that whole search the same kind of move you talk about lack of loyalty but recently an elderly member of parliament earnings wabi lost some of her purpose just because she participated in the fraternity which some israelis felt essentially put her wall with israel but it's a strange idea that you need to be at war with humanitarian activists who are trying to bring aid to people of gaza. i have asked question for all of us we should look at say what is it legitimate to attack in international waters both taking aid to people who are you know what according to all the other surveys taken by by international bodies like the united nations are suffering from malnutrition many other things so i mean of course it was a very different situation and she's not only doing that as a concern global citizen which is interesting because it's her people she's a member of the palestinian people yo

bullshit they're not and what part do you think the palestinian leaders should play in trying to allay fears that those supplies are not in fact going to feed the people of gaza but they're going to arm them well first of all how many rocket attacks on israel have there been in the last year or so and if we go back take a step back and say why did israel invade gaza in the brutality at the end of. two eight and the beginning of two zero zero nine. actually kept the ceasefire for six months the ceasefire was actually broken by israeli action. they had been looking for a pretext to move on gaza to try to break the will of the palestinians so the idea that the. hummus represents a threat to israel is plain stupid hummus is real position and it's on the record is that they would be willing to accept a two state solution based on israel's withdrawal of sixty seven lines would do so and preferably an open city in the capital of two states now they're on the record as saying that now why is that the hummus position because the how most leadership is very pragmatic like arafat was it may not l

local palestinians were kept back. israeli nationalists and the state itself have expanded the jewish presence here enormously. with tension rising again, there are new warnings that peace is impossible palestinian rights in this city are ignored. bbc news, jerusalem. >> bp says it has stopped the flow of oil that has been leaking into the gulf of mexico for the first time since the explosion that started it. and they are testing a new cap on this well. these are live pictures of the operation. >> hello and welcome. >> see the news unfold. get the top stories from around the globe and click to play video reports. go to bbc.com/news to experience the in-depth, expert reporting of "bbc world news" online. >> funding was made possible by the freeman foundation of new york, stowe, vermont, and honolulu. newman's own foundation. the john d. and catherine t. macarthur foundation. and union bank. >> union bank has put its global financial strength to work for a wide range of companies. what can we do for you? >> there is one

this requires that the palestinian authority prepare for peace. i think at the end of the day, peace is the best option for all of us and i think we have a unique opportunity and -- in a unique time to do it. the president says he has a habit of confounding all the cynics and all the naysayers and all those who conclude possibilities and he has shown it time and time again. i have had some opportunity to confound some cynics myself and if we work together with president abbas, then we can bring a great message of hope to our peoples, to the region, and to the world. i want to thank you, mr. president, for reaffirming me in private and now an publicly longstanding u.s. commitment to israel on matters of vital strategic importance. i want to thank you, too, for the grape hospitality you and the first lady have shown sarah and may and our entire delegation. i think we have to address the balance. i have come here a lot. it is about time you and the first lady came to israel. >> thank you very much. we have time for one question each. >> do you think

uh, some of them related to support for the palestinians, some of them related to the palestinians themselves. the current palestinian leadership now is intent on institution building, uh, and needs a great deal of help. they are also supportive of the help that they have received on civil society organizations. and there is a great deal going on that we support in terms of education and media and uh, in the palestinian regions. uh, and, once that effort begins to take hold and an institution that people can recognize as a palestinian state evolves, then i think you're going to see movement towards an eventual peace agreement because then the israelis, as they like to say, will know the address to, to go to. >> let me just ask you briefly, and we don't have much time left, but i'd love to hear your answer to this. are there places like north korea and south korea, for example, where the u.s. has not intervened in, with peace building operations, where that might be a fruitful tack to take to change a situation, a confrontation, that has existed for decades? is intervention in a place like nor

and the blood will flow the west bank will be sowed with blood and it would be mostly palestinian blood and if there be honest reporters around they will call it a zionist holocaust now i fear that's where we're going because that wouldn't be the end of the story. it would so inflame. a muslim masses that you would be opening the pandora's box of a much wider conflict well as i think i've suggested earlier the only person with the real paula to try to influence israel to behave in its own best interest as well as those the world is the president of america now yes it's true that europe russia there are lots of other countries with the same power the same leverage economic sanctions whatever but no other government on earth is going down this road until an american president gives the lead. every month we give you the future we help you understand how to get there and want to bring the best in science and technology from across russia and around the world to join us for technology update on our g. but watching our do you live in moscow two thirty in the morning here and these are our top

the palestinians accept palestinian refugees to the palestinian state. there are no demands of israel's arab citizens. their rights are fully guaranteed as individual rights for civic equality in israel. there are no demands for another, separate state in the galilee, or autonomous regions. this issue is resolved here and now. the late egyptian president said when he came to jerusalem, the more were, no more bloodshed, and we expect president abbas to say is no more conflict, clams, demands. israelis are prepared to go very long way, and i am prepared to lead them -- a long way to make peace, but this must be a real peace, secure, and and and to comfort. these other two principal goals, pillars of peace i put forward in my speech previously. we also moved many hundreds of checkpointshundredsearth ramps to a facilitate movement. there is an economic miracle and the palestinian areas. there would have come to naught if we had not changed policies. you cannot have a robust economic and commercial griffey cannot move goods and people. we facilitated them and

or a settlement to the palestinians from the outside.if they are waiting for that, that is a big mistake. they have to come in and negotiate this. we are prepared to talk about everything. at the end of the day, only when you sit down and mesh all these issues together and show the palestinian people and the people of israel, here is an agreement. it will be very painful. not only for the israeli side and the palestinian side. they will have to tell other people, it is over. that is the way this thing is going to end. i think we have done enough. let's get on with the talks. >> you said that barack obama was ready to assist. what would you like his role and the american role to be if he can get direct negotiations started between analyst -- israelis and palestinians? what would you like is to do? >> every peace negotiation we have had involves the assistance of the united states. in camp david, the talks between egypt and israel, the oslo accords, peace with jordan, it always involved american support. the united states is a great mediat

nation palestine i think israel's leaders will invent a pretext to drive the palestinians off the west bank and into jordan syria or ever . and the blood will flow the west bank will be sowed with blood and it will be mostly palestinian blood and if there be honest reporters around they will call it a zionist holocaust now i fear that's where we're going because that wouldn't be the end of the story. it would so inflame. a muslim nessus that you would be opening the pandora's box of a much wider conflict well as i think i've suggested earlier the only person with the real power. to try to influence his row to behave in its own best interests as well as those the world is the president of america now yes it's true that europe russia there are lots of other countries with the same power the same leverage economic sanctions whatever but no other government. is going down this road until an american president gets the lead. the. question is that so much there's a huge decision on your rights and democracy does pakistan the prospect of becoming a failed state the u.s. claims it is an indisp