rashid khalidi is edward said professor of modern arab studies at columbia university. the author of a number of books, including his latest, "the hundred-years war on palestine." he's joining us from near aix en provence in france. professor, welcome back to democracy now! why don't we start there. around this issue of the proposed u.s. embassy, already very controversy to be built in jerusalem and the property it is proposed to be built on. >> as you mentioned, the palestinian civil rights legal groups based in haifa has come up with a bunch of new documents which show the ownership of a number of families of this land going back before 1948. in planning to build on the property of these families, the u.s. government is actively engaged in infringing on the property rights of legitimate owners of this land who are u.s. citizens. so that in a nutshell is what is going on. this is something that would not happen new or else in the world if a regime legitimately took the property of u.s. citizens. nermeen: can you explain how it is this land was chosen and what the famil