foreign secretary william hague now saying just about in the past hour and a half that a hamas quote holds principal responsibility for escalating the tension between gaza and israel how do you read into that. actually william hague is one of those who holds principle responsibility because the british government joined with other western governments in supporting the israeli siege upon the gaza strip to punish them for having the temerity to vote in a democratic election for a government that the west and israel didn't like and william hague and the united states are two of the principle. of this massacre of that's currently going on and that you've just been talking about white phosphorous heavy weaponry from land sea and raining down on a captive population in the biggest concentration camp in the world in which almost two million people are eking out the most dreadful of existence as the hands of a foreign occupation power occupying the west bank and jerusalem and besieging gaza and that's the context in which this has to be seen the clock didn't start ticking a few days ago when

they've called the formation of this coalition a major breakthrough that's what william hague said in his statement earlier and he's now recognizing the coalition as the sole legitimate representative of the syrian people now that brings with it major political clout that along with it he also introduced what hague. holds a significant increase in practical support they're going to invite a political representative to come to the u.k. so that's assessed essentially establishing a diplomatic front inviting an ambassador from the this coalition to come to london but also and this is a thing that's going to give people most pause for thought he's going to commit another one million pounds in what he calls communications support he mentioned a couple of things internet hogs satellite phones to enable the opposition to communicate where and when they're in the field but of course when we say the field what we really mean is the battlefield so people are will be worried about what those communications equipment to going to be used for and basically they'll be saying that the how you use com

palestinian gaza border there are also armored carriers and tanks the british foreign secretary william hague in just the past ninety minutes has warned against the use of ground forces forces in gaza four years ago a ground invasion did take place which last israel the support of the international community are you really in the eyes of the world going to now launch a ground invasion into the gaza strip where the palestinians as most people know don't even have an army. you're definitely right we don't want any ground operation we just want peace and safety but if the rockets will continue falling and if terrorists will continue to target our children we will consider everything needed to target the terrorists to defend our citizens as every state would do in the world as every father and every mother in two world would do now is well i suppose as you say you're prepared to do just about anything we should we should perhaps be aware that of course it was the un that came out with a gold star to report approximately four years ago accusing israel of war crimes or during the invasion roughly f

the same oh absolutely but the hypocrisy on this isn't actually glaring but i think we've had william hague and we've had the french leaders and the americans you know claiming that iran is backing syria that all you have the. the turkish bringing down the syrian plane which they claim are carrying russian guns to syria or to give us all those so in poxy the western powers actually glaring it's ok for us to are the rebels in syria but for anybody else to arm the syrians it's not allowed so it's absolutely appalling the approximate you raise the topic of what actually makes up the syrian opposition well it's interesting isn't it that britain france and indeed turkey i mean london hasn't actually gone ahead to officially recognize it but why is it that western allies haven't all jumped on the bandwagon and recognized this new coalition well i think the americans but they're a bit concerned at the moment i mean obama is sort of caught between two shores here he doesn't obviously after what happened you know maybe he's a bit concerned the weapons will go into the hands of people who may turn ag

know they've they've called the formation of the this coalition a major breakthrough that's what william hague said in his statement earlier and he's now recognizing the coalition as the sole legitimate representative of the syrian people now that alone brings with it major political clout but along with it he's also introduced what he calls a significant increase in practical support and i'll just run through with you what those support measures are they going to invite a political representative to come to the u.k. so that's assessed essentially establishing a diplomatic front inviting an ambassador from the coalition to come to london they're also going to send what they're calling a stabilisation response team which is going to work with the coalition to meet the basic needs of people who are in opposition areas and also there's going to be an increase in general humanitarian aid to medical assistance support for victims of sexual violence which is something else that he is quite heavily in his speech but also and this is the thing that's going to give people most pause for thought he's go

william hague said he was never a employee of the british government.hat's a clear statement but it leaves room for a much more informal relationship, a kind of social relationship which may well have occurred. >> his death resulting in his body being purged and his wife was sentenced to 15 years or more for his life but did british agencies follow up after his zpheath >> well, i think one of the interesting questions. he died a year ago in november but it took quite a while for there to be a focus on his death and the suspicious nature of it. at first it was accepted that this was an innocent, if you like, no foul play involved. and it was only when a police chief fled to the american conscience laft and started saying it was something theals it started to change. so if he did sh >> good. >> americans are going to the polls after an 18-month campaign. these are scenes live as americans cast their votes. that's it for me, bye-bye. >> make sense of international news at bbc.com/news. >> funding for this presentation is made possible by the freeman founda

william hague speaks to the house of commons in the topic of the middle east. also on c-span2 on 12:30 p.m., julius genachowski on international security policy. he will be at the council of foreign relations. also a political practice, mike allen interviews obama campaign manager jim mussina that is just after 8:00 a.m. eastern. then on c-span at noon, the wilson center and a discussion on middle east policy. includes the jordanian ambassador to the united states. >> how does one adequately express the feeling about a special friend? >> when a friend is also a world icon. a national hero of unimaginable proportions. and the legend whose name will live in history long after all today have been forgotten >> they look down kindly onus when she chose neil to be thend first adventure to another world. and to havthe opportunity to look back from space at the beauty of our own. it could've been another comment but it wasn't. it wasn't for a reason. no one, but no one could have accepted the respns

foreign secretary william hague speaking to sky news earlier. now, casualties have mounted on both sides, not just in israel, but also in gaza, with more than 50 dead in gaza. at least three killed in israel. hundreds of rockets finding their way from gaza into israel. this is an ongoing situation, and the war between -- the warring situation between israel and palestinian militants is definitely taking its toll. we're keeping an eye on it, vick orror. >> nick valencia covering the international desk for us. >>> we're going from the middle east to the far east now, and that's where president obama spoke about the middle east. just a few moments ago the conflict there while holding a news conference in thailand. our white house correspondent dan lothian is in bangkok. what are we hearing from the president? we had it live. he talked more about burma and thailand and the trade there. what are we hearing his views as it relates to what's happening in israel with gaza. >> well, you know, are you so right. the main purpose of the president's trip her

right in the media wife so little interest well if you look at you know william hague and quit hillary clinton gallivanting around with the friends of syria meetings accusing the assad government of crimes against humanity you only have to look at bahrain to look at a litany of crimes there revoking nationality of protesters right now there are they blaming the latest bombing on his ball as if hizbollah has any any connection with bahrain so not be able rajab who to me is a modern day nelson mandela type character a genuine reformer i've really watched his progress over the last few years and i've the upmost respect for this guy he's going to have his appeal denied next week by the the all talk we see in bahrain so you know you're up loves bahrain they go down there are loads of money in the country formula one grand prix every year and loads of oil coming out of that country there's absolutely zero chance of any democratic reform in this country and this is a country the absolutely needs it patrick thanks for the program patrick had to send you a political analyst from the u.k. call h

well if you look at you know william hague and quit hillary clinton gallivanting around with the friends of syria meetings accusing the assad government of crimes against humanity you only have to look at bahrain to look at a litany of crimes there revoking nationality of protesters right now they're they blaming the latest bombing on hezbollah as if it's hizbollah has any any connection with bahrain so why not be able rajab he's going to have his appeal denied next week by the the all talk we see in bahrain so you know the europe loves bahrain they go down there for loads of money in that country formula one grand prix every year and loads of oil coming out of the country there's absolutely zero chance of any democratic reform in this country and this is a country that absolutely needs it washington and london have more or less given the boot the go ahead for the bahraini roll family and that and that government that autocracy to really go hard and fast and drop the hammer down on any pro reform movements and that's exactly what we've seen on friday ceremonies were held across germany t

starting with the ongoing conflict in syria let's get into the update now britain's foreign secretary william hague says his country is likely to formally recognize syria's opposition coalition leaders after meeting them in london and turkey and france have already officially acknowledged the alliance is now considering supplying weapons to the rebels the u.k. also said it's due to discuss the lifting of the e.u. arms embargo on the rebel coalition. japan will be heading for the polls next month with the country's prime minister dissolving the lower house of parliament after the opposition liberal democratic party agreed to back the legislation including deficit financing and electoral reforms of the l.d.p. is expected to snuff up the most seats but will likely fall far short of a majority that could result in a weakened and divided coalition government the country struggles with a two decade long economic slump. but police in england and wales have been given a choice of who they want to see keep the peace in their local areas they've voted for police and crime commission is now doing it for the f

syrian opposition forces as these soldiers are going to voice of the people foreign secretary william hague has invited the bloke's representatives to london and promised one million pounds of communications support it follows official recognition by france and italy and a joint statement of support by e.u. foreign ministers the coalition was formed earlier this month in doha replacing the syrian national council which has long been criticized for its ineffectiveness the block however has been rejected by the nations islamist groups based in aleppo they say that building a state of their own and refused to have any links with the coalition ali mohamed the syrian tribune says european supporters don't know who they're dealing with. we don't know if they don't control anything on the ground and you know there was one of them to be the sort of prison. which did not make sense after of france after the effort by the coalition has a leader of the sort of the syrian people the one thing and the release the video saying that distortion the conflict is out there and that they are there would be fig

order to lift their weapons and go and start to give their pows more weapons now if you hear william hague's statements today after his meeting with the leaders of their syrian opposition he wasn't quite clear on that but i think what the entire this posture highlights is the unpredictability of the western position towards syria which kind of the only consistency about that has been its unpredictability and inconsistency which could shift at any moment and i think we need to be very clear about that because the tipping point could happen at any point and surprisingly now there seems to be momentum but there's still a lot of reluctance but also there's sort of different powers backing the emerging syrian opposition aren't the kind of playing in the same way a wavelength so all in all there is kind of indication that this might happen but it hasn't gathered enough momentum in what about the unpredictable nature of the syrian opposition itself the rocket bomb he says the u.s. is only interested in encouraging the most moderate elements of the opposition that are committed to human rights that

bomb attacks were going off in reality saudi routed through intel of the even is rather we have william hague and hillary clinton within seconds coming out condemning them they're not doing this we had a bomb outside a nursery school a few weeks ago we have the appalling mood of this we can have a famous syrian actor who was killed he's his only crime was of course supporting the government in syria. and so we've got terrorist attacks taking place on a daily basis to not be there by the west and i think we all know why well neal no one has claimed responsibility for the attacks but rebel groups say they were behind similar acts of violence in the past wires or to such methods are getting desperate more more desperate because the fact is they haven't got majority public support in syria i think we had a rebel commander saying a few months ago that in the big cities the trouble was that about seventy percent of the people support the government in syria and i think as the violence goes on more and more people in syria who. many of that sort of undecided early on say in twenty eleven hours after

deaths of children simply collateral damage and moments ago moments ago britain's foreign secretary william hague said hamas must be the main responsibility your thoughts. well this is just the absolutely despicable despicable typical narrative coming out from western governments given for the state of the beginning of this these attacks began on thursday the eye of november when. it was killed and he was the senior and he was playing for the eastern side with this was this was. this supposed to be perfect response israel came back there were some rockets sent over there and these were israeli soldiers this is an israeli this is a military occupation the longest in modern history completely illegal under international palestinians have a right to resist an illegal occupation said the beginning of this balance began with israel the masses the masses amounts of the injured are in the palestinians that is just back in march when there were twenty palestinians were killed and it was initiated better israel it was the need to strike what was i mean certainly certainly russia russia is from one of russ

bomb attacks were going off in riyadh saudi arabia if you were in tel aviv in israel then we have william hague and hillary clinton in seconds coming out condemning them they're not doing this we had a bomb outside a nursery school a few weeks ago we had the appalling murder this weekend of a famous syrian actor who was killed he's only crime was of course supporting the government in syria and so we've got terrorist attacks taking place on a daily basis and not me by the west and i think we all know why. russia says western efforts to unite syria's fragmented opposition to doomed to failure because they're based on warmongering foreign minister sergei lavrov believes the bloody battle is being encouraged deliberately to create conditions for regime change more on russia's latest assessment of the syrian crisis from artie's lucy coming off. sergey lavrov is on a middle east tour after a tenuous cease fire in syria broke down during a tragically so during the holiday of aid but on the very same day as russia is trying to restart diplomatic efforts to come to some sort of diplomatic solution to t

of you can have it or we can have it you can't activists accusing the british foreign secretary william hague a double standards on iran's nuclear program he never mentioned israel's alleged stockpile when he met his israeli counterpart why does it never come up in official talks. well i think we all understand what the imperial structure of the of the middle east is and that is that the western powers britain and america with the support britain and other western european powers believe that it has an absolute right to control this area of the globe and it employs the israeli state has its watchdog in the in the area so the israeli state is always beyond criticism always beyond reproach always given unqualified support by the united states and bar by britain and and some of them some of the most pros are statements have been made by the current british prime minister david cameron really really briefly john i got thirty seconds the british defense secretary says europe must be ready to play a bigger role in north africa the middle east does the region really need the ukase involvement right

william hague seemed to agree.round invasion is much more difficult for the international community to support. for more for the efforts to broker peace i'm joined by james traub and by joe cirincione president of the global security foundation and author of "bomb scare: the history and future of nuclear weapons." why now? why is this simmer conflict simmering conflict happening. >> there is an election coming up in israel. the cynical interpretation would be netanyahu has decided to have this census-creating war. now is that true? i don't know. the underlying israel point of view is that it's the time to show hamas that this is unacceptable. the underlying question is given the occurrence of this event what happened four years ago looks almost identical to what is happening now. and it will happen again in four years no matter what the underlying cause. it will happen again. >> eliot: israel controlling the west bank and hamas controlling gaza. >> eliot: hamas will not agree to any peace deal unless its forced upo

fairs, secretary william hague. >> mr.ker, with permission, i will make a statement on gaza, the middle east peace process and syria. the whole house will be united in concern both at the intolerable situation for the residents of southern israel and the grave loss of life and humanitarian in gaza including the particular impact on children. on the 14th of november, the israeli defense forces began air strikein response to a sharp increase in rocket fire. hamas and other militant groups responded with other rocket fire. as of today, three israeli citizens have been killed and at least 109 palestinians including 33 women and 26 children -- 11 women and 26 children also lled. we have made clear that hamas have the principal responsibility for the start of the current crisis but also that all sides have responsibilities. we quickly called on israel to seek every opportunity to de escalate their militaryesponse and to observe international humanitarian law and avoid civilian casualties. yesterday e.u. foreign ministers condemn

william hague said -- here is what he said. >> what we have needed is a political transition that reflects the will of the assyrian people. -- the syrian people. on november 11, there was a major breakthrough with the establishment of the coalition of opposition forces, which has been welcomed by many syrians. i met with the president and his co-rice president's last friday. they have devoted themselves to widening support among all sections of syrian society and creating a detailed transition plan for syria. i encouraged him to use the next friends of syria meeting, probably next month in morocco, to lay out the future in detail. in addition, -- in response, they expressed their and notion to build on the agreements and will leave the door open to further opposition agreements. and do not repeat the abuses of the assad regime. they tell me they have the interest in protecting the civilian population against attack. it will be up to syrians to approved a future government. these are encouraging statements by the coalition. they have much to do to win the full support of the syrian people a

british foreign secretary william hague is among those warning the israelis not to launch a ground offensives invading gaza would cost the israelis international sympathy. the white house says it is up to israel to decide whether to enter gaza to try to stop rocket attacks against the israelis. >>> well, like anything in the middle east, nothing is ever simple as it appears. a major player in this conflict is iran. which has been supplying hamas with long range rockets and training hamas commanders how to fire from underground launch sites. here what he is israeli prime minister -- i'm sorry, israeli president shimon peres had to say to iran with our piers morgan. >> obviously' serious situation escalating by the hour now. how do you see this resolving itself? >> well, there is an attempt to introduce a cease-fire. we have a positive. the positive is the constructive war that the egyptian president is playing right now and we appreciate very much his efforts. the other one is the iranians. they are trying again to encourage hamas to continue their shooting, the bombing, they are trying to se

. >> secretary of state for foreign and commonwealth affairs, secretary william hague. >> mr. speaker, with permission, i will make a statement on gaza, the middle east peace process and syria. the whole house will be united in concern both at the intolerable situation for the residents of southern israel and the grave loss of life and humanitarian in gaza including the particular impact on children. on the 14th of november, the israeli defense forces began air strikes in response to a sharp increase in rocket fire. hamas and other militant groups responded with other rocket fire. as of today, three israeli citizens have been killed and at least 109 palestinians including 33 women and 26 children -- 11 women and 26 children also killed. we have made clear that hamas have the principal responsibility for the start of the current crisis but also that all sides have responsibilities. we quickly called on israel to seek every opportunity to de escalate their military response and to observe international humanitarian law and avoid civilian casualties. yesterday e.u. foreign minist

turning to international news, william hague it speaking earlier today in the house of commons says britainformally recognizing the newly-formed syrian opposition as the legitimate representative of the syrian people. this follows last week's announcement by france that they were recognizing the syrian national coalition that formed in opposition to the president. the united states has also recognized the leadership body as a legitimate representative but stopped short of describing it as the sole representative, saying the group must demonstrate the ability to represent syrians inside the country. air raid the on -- air raid sirens could be heard in the distance from downtown jerusalem. the second rocket attack aimed at the city since a round of fighting broke out last wednesday. it occurred as diplomats are trying to work out a cease-fire. those are some of the latest headlines on c-span radio. >> there are many people that might even take issue with grant saving the union during the civil war. didn't link it did that? yes, he did. i will not take great was the only person who's a big uni

to make palestine and nonmember observer state from british foreign secretary, william hague. he told members of the house of commons that the u.k. would abstain from the vote. this is a little more than an hour. >> mr. speaker, with permission i will make a statement on the palestinian resolution to the root of the u.n. assembly tomorrow. this resolution calls for the upgrading of the palestinian u.n. status from the server to nonmember observer state. and i wish to inform the house of the discussions, the government has had with the palestinian leadership and how we intend to proceed. achieving a two state solution to the israeli-palestinian conflict is one of our top international priorities. we support a negotiated settlement leading to a safe and secure israel, living alongside a viable and sovereign palestinian state, based on 1967 borders with the great land swaps, jerusalem is the share capital of those states and they just come up there and agree for refugees. this is the only way to secure sustainable as to the conflict and it has wide support in the south and across

spent as this statement comes to a close now, british foreign secretary william hague making news this morning announcing that britain has moved to formally recognized the newly formed syrian opposition as the sole legitimate representative of the syrian people. follow in footsteps of france last week which become the first western nation to officially recognize the syrian national coalition. the ap also reported in the u.s. has also recognize the leadership by as a legitimate representative but stopped short as describing as a sole represented. they say the first must group -- quick reminder that will have more from the british house of commons tomorrow as members present questions to prime minister david cameron. live coverage starts at 7 a.m. eastern here on c-span2. spent we have more live programming coming up today on the c-span networks. the nest its policy toward the middle east be focus of an event at the woodrow wilson center. we'll have that for you begin at noon eastern on a companion network c-span. back on c-span2, halfhearted it's julius genachowski. you will talk about