Happening and who been also calling on Prime Minister nicole. To resign or the other people who actually say well no this was the right call for the Prime Minister to do because we were on a lost on the ground militarily i was soldiers were dying and we were going to even lose more ground had to cease fire can come into action at this point bearing in mind that the azeri forces were within kilometers from carrot Prime Minister thats the message actually that the Prime Minister has been trying to give it to to have armenians accept he said it is a very painful moment but he had no other choice that the fate of those 7 regions that surround her about have always been a precondition for azerbaijan to start even any kind of talks over the future of the enclave itself he said he had no way out of it and he said that armenia was fighting against. Army in azerbaijan but also it was not us or by general alone it was turkey helping them mercenaries thats a message coming out from him but he is under a lot of pressure politically he has the support of the chief of staff of the military but they are also calls from opposition parties for him to leave to have another person get armenia out of this very difficult time to palestinian negotiator saeb erekat has died after Contracting Co that 19. As the chief negotiator in peace talks with israel for 2 and a half decades said in president Mahmoud Abbas has called the passing of a huge loss for palestine and its people. His military has captured and in her marriage as an area controlled by reason forces and is according to local media. Ordered the offensive in tikrit using needs as they are trying to break up the country and undermine his leadership. Form and Infinite Networks have been caught in the region to grow the region is surrounded and cut off from the rest of the country so its very difficult to ascertain the claims coming from both sides but what the government has said just this morning is that they have taken. That claimed yesterday that they have taken that town and this seems to be now a complete takeover this is the 4th own about the government has. Taken from militias or the forces from loyal to the Regional Administration that the Prime Minister treated that the operation is still on and is drawing closer to the aims and objectives for why it was launched which is to remove the Regional Administration and bring the leadership of the 2 people have to justice. And the fighting is taking place from at least 3 fronts that is. Border with our region and also the one with al for the region which is on the border with eritrea and djibouti and also from the sudan border side well. And weve been hearing of hundreds of people fleeing the fighting crossing into sudan. The u. S. Attorney general has also rise federal prosecutors to investigate allegations on fighting and regularities if there is strong evidence that campaign has filed lawsuits in battleground states alleging. That they know with all the headlines more news here on aljazeera correspondent. My name is Matthew Castle im a photographer and a journalist a group jewish in america and i support the palestinian struggle against occupation. My support for palestinians has made me feel like an outsider in my own community and my family its made me question whether its possible to be both jewish and a critic of zionism. I was raised with the narrative of israel is a dream realized for the jewish people a safe haven after the horrors of the holocaust. But my world changed when i crossed my 1st israeli checkpoint i was 21 it was the 2nd intifada and id never seen war an occupation. That moment had a profound impact on me. Ive spent much of the last decade living and working in the middle east documenting the palestinian plight. My journey takes me home to the u. S. To explore with zionism means in America Today and the jewish communities relationship to israel. This is chicago my hometown where i grew up. My mom and dad spent several years traveling and teaching in afghanistan before coming back to raise my sister and me. They divorced when i was a kid and my mom left chicago but my dad so lives here. My dad is not Health Issues since i was a teenager but his biggest struggle was being uninsured. Watching him cope with his illness as an uninsured american was one of the things that drew me towards fighting for social change. He dance just to put it. As a skill to comfortable and. Secure from the ones i think are good you look a lot better than last time to go another few hard ground operations. Thousands of people die and all the time around here because they dont have insurance. You know and its not just the money but its the psychology you create you know just everything stacked against you. And the little guy gets screwed. Down easy country. So that. If you live and. Shit in our. Shit or. My mom raised me with a strong sense of social justice which for her stems from a jewish faith. She took me to Hebrew School and i was bar mitzvah at 13. These days identify secular but i took away from my religious upbringing was the importance of fighting against injustice and standing up for the oppressed. d years later i applied those lessons to israel and saw that palestinians were being denied their rights. To Israeli Palestinian conflict is a polarizing issue within the Jewish American community including within my own family when my mom saw me at a protest in chicago carrying a palestinian flag she told me i was no longer her son we stopped talking i was devastated to see the politics become this personal. I went to speak with ari hart who are grew up with in chicago ari is now a modern orthodox rabbi in new york and over the years we have been able to have an open dialogue about the conflict in israel palestine. Ari was preparing for to shop for a jewish holiday that commemorates the destruction of the 1st and 2nd temples in jerusalem over 2000 years ago i mean i think the idea that theres brokenness in the world and theres brokenness in israel that resonates very deeply with me and that the world is not perfected yet and that theres that theres profound alienation and this profound exile in the world and that we need to be working towards fixing that thats how i resonate with you. So this is the library yeah this is called the big need rush like madrasa actually like study house of study during the week its full of tables and about 40 people sit in this room and study these books out loud in like a very rewarding spectacular we can practice that you sit face to face with a study partner its kind of like you almost clash like youre supposed to argue as opposed to kind of getting to be like oh you think it means this what i think it means this is about ideas its a fight over ideas and its like a holy fight that kind of debate is all the thing theres a famous joke about. The mother sends her child off to shiva you know through the use of the Jewish School here and when the child comes home she doesnt ask you know did you get a good grade or did you give a good answer she asked oh did you ask a good question today asking good questions thats the heart of Jewish Education i think it comes from both the texts and also from the experience of being different in a lot of different you know societies throughout history i think what karl marx and freud and people who really thought about things in from a different perspective than the in the normal stream at the time i think that was part of their jewish experience you know its like an agitator a little bit just because youre kind of different so you identify as a supporter of israel as a zionist yeah ok how did you how did you come to that i believe in zionism because i believe that the jewish people is something unique to offer to the world in terms of ethical and spiritual moral teachings and i think that the state of israel is the. Best thing thats happened to jewish people in 2000 years is the greatest opportunity weve had to actualize our highest values i think is really interesting we were talking about how kind of you know questioning is the essence of judaism but that doesnt seem to be happening a lot these days within the Jewish Community there are some sectors of the Jewish Community that are more open to questions and some that are less open to those questions israel is like a dream and when the dream gets realised its complicated because almost in the dream its the reality i grew up with a similar narrative about this dream being realized in israel you know for the jewish people. But then when i went and actually saw what was going on there is one i saw the other side of it which is a nightmare to be quite frank for the palestinians on the other end and all of that just seemed the opposite of the lessons i had i had grown up with being raised jewish its hard to see the suffering of of someone who is was trying to harm you its also hard to hold 2 narratives its hard to hold the narrative of wow this was the best thing that happened to my people and this was like the worst thing that happened to that people and thats a very difficult place to be and feels like you have to choose you know and i personally believe its possible to hold both and i think there are jewish leaders and jews who do who are able to occupy both narratives but its not easy its very difficult. Hey they were yeah im still close with my sister lane shes a Community Organizer in the bronx i joined her for a protest she was helping to organize in new york so whats going on here today why are these people out here and these are the protesting the murder of trayvon right whats your role in all this and more a good thing with kind of people we had out here we had to put together the call for this night so i gave bottle weight and i looked the way did i just we did i thought he would just say it justice. Oh. About where i live in the south bronx its the poorest congressional districts in the United States you have kids getting harassed the stats are frustrated brutalized and in some cases even murdered by the police i wanted to talk to laney about what she recalled from our jewish upbringing and what she remembered about my mom disowning me youre think its always good to go. Where you are happening in 2006 when i had a falling out with with mom. Yes thats right can you talk about it because i. Can just talk about what happened. There that happens. So what was it like for jewish. Men a lot of bagels and bialys thats the only thing i dont. Know you took away from it is the beer it was the bagels part of it was that i never felt like every lead its a religion but especially as i grew up and started something more about the role of judaism specifically in the context of israel that i felt like it distanced me even further and i can see a lot of the people around me a lot of the jewish folk that i grew up with they started to have similar feelings some young jews of my generation like my sister have grown disenchanted with judaism in part because of its connection with israel. The Jewish American community is predominately progressive on social issues but its hard to find Common Ground on the issue of palestinian rights because many are unwilling to criticize israel. I went to the annual celebrate israel day parade in new york to gauge how strong support is for israel among some in the community. The mayor of new york and other politicians could be seen marching up for top and in. Fact. I was. Why you are here love is a wonderful country with very generous and Beautiful People the bad happy to hear that some people are critical of israel and its treatment towards palestinians and the occupation well they have to get better educated and they were there with years ago. They would you again they would they would not tell me the money. You might call the mayor said it best you know when the parents put down their weapons of the peace when its whats on their weapons and we know its there is a Palestinian People and they do deserve a state of their own but that has to be done in a way thats going to protect this. Hes hard every jew is designed everyone theres a lot of jews who dont want him. Hes part of hard line. So much time are there that his state of israel stockholm god will make all the other thats why im here to show my support there too as a source for you know the route there in support of directly by my living there i think its also israel survive a lot of times the kind of upon the support of other nations such as america what about the treatment towards the palestinians and the occupation. About it how do you describe whats happening in the west bank and the way i was raised by my appreciation for the fact of the that israel the entire land of israel is the home of the jewish people i do not view it as i do not view this occupation there is a necessity for a jewish home and there was a right look and if you look at if you look at history world historical rights because it was home but how do you justify the creation of a homeland for jewish people in israel and the loss of a homeland for another people the palestinians the homeland i was there really i was studying state of fresh my own history if there was there wasnt a palestinian state there was a people who were living there is that not right their health their policies they were after all jewish they will still be living and living in the biblical land of israel people understood the complexity of the region understood that it wasnt just primarily jews primarily arabs its what the u. N. Proposed they pose a partition is a partition plan theres a state for them that is there for that except. That youre going to fairly youre saying the pressure to sympathize or empathize with whats happening with the palestinians who are facing their own kind of oppression. Absolutely i know friends that are. Going to have a lot of guilt about the way they did and its not its our selves and situation why do you feel the guilt youre not israeli as. I think she was that recognizing that its my state really i got it like that and i. Got. It where were you born 10600. 30. 3. The constitution. And im. Just going through things i can imagine if youre here today that the jews are safe because of israel the federal government. Is not a government its going to be Something Like it is a 100 percent but it was the only people that i found critical of israel where a small ultraorthodox jewish group called military carter. They believe that the creation of the state of israel challenges Gods Authority we know the holocaust our feelings died its in our blood yet were not going to seek to god that were going to turn away few would say that we dont respect the believe in your protection im not but its a catastrophe the concept of oppressing the people stealing the land thats not the tickle to what judaism is certainly. The strongest political message of the day came after the parade when right wing american and israeli politicians took the stage the overwhelming majority of the American People will stand with israel whatever it takes. And people will laugh a little flavor no effect no bad though maybe that is buil than anything im going to put on the flame and i want to thank you for that and people dont think about making the fusion that were being given back to the 96 to 59 and telling you very straightforward go into well know it happened no matter who would be there was. Not the one being the you know. At the parade i saw many People United with fervor for israel and it seemed that their support for israel was strongly connected to their jewish identity i felt even more alienated from the Jewish American. The narrative of israel built on the memory of the holocaust doesnt leave much room for understanding the palestinian story i went to the museum of tolerance in new york part of the Simon Wiesenthal center a Jewish Human Rights Organization i wanted to hear their perspective on the conflict in israel palestine the holocaust happened but why did it happen having because hate speech happened because of bowling its because of bigotry having to all these terrible things so our job is to basically educate the next generation of people to not let that happen again. We have power of images these are you know images that were in advertisements around the u. S. Over the last you know 200 years. You know new kind of looking well how does that make people of different race or creed or colors feel yeah everybody find something offensive here you know at some point everyone that i was with the it was a funny advertisement oh it wasnt funny everyone. Knows what. This video poker says extremists of hamas even lets. Talk about a little bit what social justice means to the greater Jewish Community in the u. S. To go back to the Civil Rights Movement you know there were so many issues that were involved with the africanAmerican Community and i think social justice is always been something really really important and have you ever tried to take that lens of seeing oppression where it happens and look at it from the palestinian perspective yeah absolutely look you know i just i dont see it i dont see it quoted with most of the things you see around here you know you see rwanda here you see darfur you see mass killings i mean you see syria where over a 100000 people have been killed my civil war but you know a lot of people do equate it to lets say the Civil Rights Movement in this country where you have an oppressed minority that is struggling for equal rights in the same way that martin i i dont i dont see the comparison at all i just dont see it is that antisemitic to be anti scientists to be opposed to the idea of zionism you know i design is a bit is almost a difficult term in todays day and age it is news and what is there in term you know that now theres a state of israel signed it was during the return design state of israels a fact today its very common thing to say im not an antisemite i mean and i design asst. And that is very complicated you know if someone believes that you know that israel should kind of not be there and those jews should be wiped off the face of the planet or thrown into the sea you know thats thats you know thats nonsense and i sign is thats a magic and why do you think its so hard to discuss really israel and the us. Is it hard. I have found that it is difficult to talk about zionism in america but a growing number of young Jewish Americans are challenging the existing narrative one of them is my friend journalist nora barrows friedman its either like theres no discussion about zionism or the discussion is is is very is i noticed in a lot of American Jewish communities William Ammons of antisemitism that i found actually coming from Zionist Organizations and their attempts to conflate sign isnt with judaism lumping all jews into this one film or a Little Community is anti semitic its its generalizing a population and that were all victims that were vulnerable and saying that we need protection by these ultranationalist trim right wing groups. I flew to chicago to meet a number of people who have come to know over the years and who are actively involved in the debate around israel palestine. One of those people is kevin kovach a spoken word artist. Kevin is also the artistic director of young chicago authors a Community Center for use empowerment. The power of young people to speak the truth to systems that try to devalue their personhood i think you all do that better than anyone in the world your personhood is the direct resistance to the systems that will do mean in the valuing to human. Like me kevins concern with human rights has led him to speak out against israels occupation this is put him in direct conflict with his father a longtime supporter of israel. Kevin published a book of poems one of the poems was to his explaining myself. For my father. This time dad we were on the wrong side of history i mean jews who support israel without question these are the holy words of imperialists which is to say mad men which is the same men who used bulldozers to run over homes and then build new ones never acknowledging the horror of what happened there is being ignorant things said of jews in anger to kindo our worst fears but dad very plainly how many palestinians do you know we are better than this we can turn this story right Work Together with the many others to counter what is wrong i know we can you taught me to do this work dad and i believe you. Put it right not to my mom because on the better of my words now thats moving and i can identify with that what motivated you to to write that poem to you that i love manys hes hes actually like a really sweet and kind man and he my mom have taught me a certain sense of justice and so to see him hold on to these archaic beliefs that hes been taught you know just the the myth that israel and america will continue to tell about its own origin there was a time. I guess around like you know the last major incursion into gaza where we werent going to speak up on you my dad does not write he wrote 5 pages of notes that he wanted to tell me and i wrote him this poem. A letter just to him kind of explaining where it is i was coming from and i read it to him in starbucks and he read me his piece and you know we said it was going to be you know difficult but i think he i think for whatever reason like it clicked a little bit. I went to kevins house the next morning to talk to him or about it views and to meet his dad. Really really write this were you know being a jew you have to have a particular sense of everything like if i were to have a bagel that was just baked im crazy its got to be bacon boiled. You know when he was school i went to sunday school i went to Jewish Day School for little i was bar mitzvah but i thought with my rabbi a lot there was that song that i heard as i was studying for my bar mitzvah care which is 1987 song why is that which talks about moses and abraham being black i memorized that verse and recited it for my rabbi and what is your rabbi say he told me to get out of the synagogue. He said that was impossible and so i knew that there was a power that in saying something that was counter to the dominant narrative thats interesting because you have a poem also about at the passover seder and theres a tradition where. The youth at the table are encouraged to ask questions thats what i thought in part was the illest thing of judaism is our desire for debate and thats the beauty of the tradition you know the idea of midrash the idea of time would to really wrestle with the meaning of those of these ancient stories that weve been carrying for you know nearly 6000 years that tradition is still alive within the Jewish Community in the us not of course i mean it if we were to fully embrace that aspect of our own conversations we would be having more and more Public Discourse around israel palestine. Ive been dismissed from conferences ive been disinvited ive been shut down ive been censored for for reading poems the elders the teachers will say that israel was a land without people for people without land and my father my fathers generation bought into that myth that there were no people in palestine there were no people in israel it was just desert right thats the myth that we tell ourselves to feel good about occupying that land and then kicking people out of their homes. The the. Rewind returns with updates on the best of out to see was documentary. The moving story of 2 young tuchman girls in afghanistan. At last able to get an education up to these suppressive taliban occupation. But what has become of that. Rewind pencils and bullets. On aljazeera. One half scuff this and half lebanese so diversity is really important for me and aljazeera is the most diverse place i have at the way its the. We have so many different nationalities and this is east books together in this one organization and this diversity of perspective is reflected in our coverage giving a more accurate representation of the world we reported on and thats a key strength of al jazeera. And i again im your columns are all these the top stories on aljazeera celebrations in azerbaijan after a deal was signed and weeks of conflict with armenia as president says their green mint which is also signed by russia and a long occupation of them going to cairo back area. The agreement as outrage in armenia with angry protesters storming government buildings in your of on the deal calls for Armenian Forces to turn over control of some areas or just as a demanding the Prime Minister resign what up till hamid has more from. Well lots of anger and upset also a lot of sadness and a huge sense of loss i mean weve been standing here on the grounds of the parliament for the last few hours and weve seen really a continuous coming and going of people voicing their anger voicing their opposition to what happened just behind me now at the moment you cant see them but theres a group of women who are from nagornokarabakh who are visibly shaken by whats happening and who also calling on Prime Minister nicole. To resign. Chief palestinian negotiator side our cat has died after Contracting Coded 19. As the chief negotiator in peace talks with israel for 2 and a half decades said in president Mahmoud Abbass group the posting of a huge loss for palestine and its people. Ethiopias military is captured and brought in who mera sonera controlled by Regional Forces and is according to local media Prime Minister had ordered the offensive into great kucing leaders theyre trying to break up the country and undermine his leadership. Here as attorney general has authorized federal prosecutors to investigate allegations of voting irregularities if there is strong evidence of campaign has filed lawsuits in battleground states alleging fraud the newly reelected president of the ivory coast has invited his political rivals to talks with hopes of easing tensions about the recent election opposition call for protests after allison was for was voted in for a 3rd controversial to. And after a year in exile bolivias former president ever maraniss has returned home he left the country last november after a violent protests and accusations of electoral fraud. Theres i had lines more news coming up but now lets get you back to aljazeera correspondent. Kevin cobols dad came over to discuss how he and his son have differing views on israel why dont you start by talking about what you wrote to to katherine in that letter that you well you know hes done some poetry that to me sounds very anti israeli and a lot of it was just i just wondered if summer through the influence was antisemitic you know it just seemed to me that what he was saying was that jew should be in israel and im im very proud of the state of israel i wrote in this letter and thats really the just not listen to his poetry anymore not be involved with him at all in any way shape or form because i was so angry you know and he wrote me a letter in reply that was a good answer to what i had written i wasnt aware of the similarities the palestinians are going through he compares that to you know what it was like before civil rights here and how we werent letting africanAmerican People vote have a say so and go into diners stuff like that do you think you have an appreciation for why your dad has such a strong attachment to israel yeah i mean i mean weve talked about him and theres a real some resonance postholocaust of wanting to be in the land where you are say i understand emotionally but. At what cost in a lot of ways i think our home is in the world like i think that part of what it means to be jewish is to live in diaspora and make the world a better place i dont know that we need a nation to do that work well i mean i see this point of views but you know i see so much the good that comes out of that country you know i never been there but i tend to think its a little more beautiful now well because theres like more strip malls that we were if i go there and spend some time there you can probably argue them more but i think you look at some of the ok somebody even the resort areas where theres beautiful beaches some of the most beautiful therapeutical going to them theyve been there theyve been there its just now palestinians cant enjoy well they should be able to you know but they cant because of israeli policy they cant because of America America now and that argument and i dont im not arguing i know but im saying that what he was i mean at the end its good you guys are able to talk about these issues because i havent been able to discuss them with my own family and you know my mom stopped talking to me for for a while because we had differing views much like you 2 i think when it comes to somebody like your mom or my understanding for kevin is i go back i was fall back on there im proud to be an american im like him i fall back on our constitution so kevin has a right to say whatever he wants because of his poetry and his stand he was disinvited by hill who he was like he was like a hero for you know how could you censor liquid it did burn books and youre doing the same thing should be ashamed of yourselves. As i grappled with questions about faith and identity i came across the blog of rabbi branch rosen who was a strong supporter of israel and who is now outspoken in defense of palestinian rights surprisingly he is now the rabbi of the synagogue that i went to growing up as you can see a very huge movement. One of the marks of reconstruction is that we are very public about our disavowal of the concept of jews as a chosen people we did away with the notion of god as the supernatural deity who controls history and human fate etc but. God is a force for good and justice in the world and so for any one people to say that they are gods chosen more than any other is if we dont believe that as americans you know we shouldnt as jews either this is the most controversial part of the of the building but you know a lot of people when they saw this they thought holocaust. Which is you know i think yeah its like rubble i could see maybe some pm would look at it has sort of a destruction but to me i mean other people totally get it was. Right i always said i would never be a congregational rabbi i have no way in hell i was going to do that i was very cynical about synagogues and at this point i think theres any other congregation in the world that would take a rabbi like me what is different about you from what i do palestinian solidarity work and i do it as a rabbi and as a jew i think its the most jewish thing i can do to stand in solidarity with palestine. Israel narrative it has a religious power for jews even jews who consider the same secular and there is this religious fervor by which they identify with this narrative of growing up israel and the zionist narrative has always been central to my judaism ive always been very comfortable being a peace activist as an american and protesting against american militarism but somehow israel will always be off the hook i think gaza really marked the final breaking point for me it was just a moment when 3002009 december 2008 january 2009 many civilians including children were killed and i just went and i just. It was one of those moments where i felt i. I cant im not going to apologize for this in americana except this is about persecuting palestinians. And as a jew as a rabbi as a human being of conscience i just felt i couldnt continue to rationalize it anymore of course the question was a more existential question it was what do i do now i mean i. Can i be a rabbi and say these things going to be a jew and say these things and i was just very honestly sharing my own grief breaking with this narrative that had been a part of my identity for most of my life but what is it about your jewish faith that makes you that compels you to speak out in defense of palestinian rights the central most sacred story of my faith the exodus story. Is a story at its heart that demands that we stand with the oppressed and that we call it the oppressor and that our god is a god who harkens to the cry of the oppressed in the mans that we do the same now if theres anything thats complicated its that theyre being oppressed by my people that i admit is painfully complicated but that means we need to start unpacking that. The attacks on september 11th 2001 were turning point for me. I became politically active and protested the u. S. Wars in afghanistan and iraq. Through my antiwar activism i was introduced to the arab American Community and that had some up with a palestinian american and political activist living in chicago. How many arabs are there in chicago we think theres 250000. 00 arabs in illinois the vast majority of them are in cook county south was chicago south was suburbs of atlanta yeah 70 percent of them are palestinians when did they leave palestine to come here but the vast majority came after 967 when Israel Occupied the west bank and the guy was surveying. And jerusalem yeah are they happy being here do they want to go back what whats whats the feeling you get from i mean listen everybody wanted to go back to their homeland i think most of them still want to go back to their homeland most of those who actually left their homeland but about people like you who are born and raised palestinian americans like being in their parents villages they like visiting amal and jerusalem that sort of thing does that mean that they would leave everything that they know in the United States and go to Palestine Arab americans palace the americas i doubt it but you know there is this really visceral connection to the to the homeland in 2003 i started living and working in the occupied west bank and began running articles for websites like the electronic intifada i later became friends with its director. Who advocates for a one state solution to end the conflict i tried to get in the window to. Find out. Intifada had all the connotations not just of people protesting or throwing stones against heavily you know troops in the towns and cities but the idea of cultural resistance cultural revival standing up to to prop up the recent posting in forces are excluded at the same reason that historically africanamerican voices have been excluded in this country its about marginalizing people who dont have power. I went to all these home to talk about his familys experience being forced to flee in 1948 and about growing up as a child of refugees. Have a name a baby you and i am a huge the 2 are right so what is home for you. I hate that question i never know how to answer it i mean home is where i live in chicago home is where my parents in jordan home is where my parents came from in palestine so home can mean many things but ive always. Been a little bit jealous of people who have a simple answer to that question and you wont meet many palestinians who have a simple answer to it i mean palestine is home but its unattainable for so many people what happened in the 194748 was the destruction of palestine as people knew it. And of a way of life the end of communities that existed for generations and generations and the beginning of a life of exile and dispersion that exists to this day. After returning from the occupied west bank i became close to palestinians living in chicago including people like massada who owns a popular falafel restaurant where i worked. I mean im getting. Ready. To say. The name of the. Child that its. Ok inside im a family live in logan square where theyre turning our house into another restaurant named from the side of herself they celebrated ramadan by breaking the fast with an if tar dinner saturday is awesome. Yak going downstairs to. The facts of the day its a good eat when did this is. Going to go on these days one day isnt right that can make all day. For the whole world heard about that. Please. Ahmed asaf is a Palestinian Refugee from gaza who won the popular talent show arab idol earlier this year he managed to make it out of the siege on the gaza strip in order to reach the competition going on the ground. Game and speeches to make it money and be blunt no president gets that much work done so you open sultans market the restaurant here i came i dont know i can take him how to speak english and how to swim kind of bike to drive to work and make money it does sound what i was like this is that then if you know what i mean. I guess in the come for a job i remember a. Young boy you asked for food for my family. I remember i was bringing kids from bellagio if you do given that was big on a tour of the United States because there were photographers and we had an event and i asked if you wanted to donate food to that event that it would be another 10 would be to me to. Be on the scene you know people actually probably wouldnt know what we are because you. See because. Of the state really for part of the south side its one of the most dangerous areas of the United States and not a house with the highest rates of gun related homicides when black folks from the south side talk about not having opportunities you can see theres very little in terms of development here is where the Palestinian Community when it 1st came to chicago they came to the southwest side here and they made money and a lot of them have moved out into the suburbs some in the Palestinian Community chicago have been involved in political activism for palestinian rights back home my friend runs the Arab American Action Network if youre a zionist then you support the notion that an american jew from new york has more right. To live in palestine then your father then my father the United States supports israel with 4000000000 dollars a year high we hope our people back home with their liberation is maybe to change some minds here spread awareness you protest raise money for humanitarian aid that sort of thing in 2010 the f. B. I. Came to my home. And other members of the aaa and have been targets of an f. B. I. Investigation which had some police as a way to silence their activism its an uphill battle but were making a lot of progress in the last few years handsome and i were at the same rally where my mom told me that i was no longer her son i asked him if you remembered it that she was she was at the rally i dont know having that thats what it was yeah thats right because he was calling god a zionist entered sudden was on the antis line inside and i think that says that if you saw i saw you on your bike with your flag yeah i got a phone call you got a phone call ok while i was riding the bike say mack put that bad word flag down now really yeah i never told you oh my good no you did tell me but that was a long time ago i was really upset. And thats what you consider the day you were disowned while i was disowned she said you know that flag is everything that im against and you know she said well youre not my son youre not your grandfathers grandson and what about your mom today. We talk. How some believes that the real power to change minds about the conflict in israel palestine lies in Community Organizing and exposure to palestinian culture more people learned about palestine and about the occupation from the writing of one poem and the publishing of one song then you know that maybe our work here in 10 years was only after we incorporated hip hop instruction and creative writing into our Youth Program that we were able to start doing the political work that we can do with them. Many grassroots organizations like the Arab American Action Network are focused on bringing the palestinian narrative to the American Public to challenge the United States longstanding support for israel i wanted to know why the u. S. Is so steadfast in its support for israel so i went to the university of chicago to talk with John Mearsheimer a professor of Political Science he along with his colleague stephen walt wrote a controversy a book called the israel lobby in which they look at pro israel Interest Groups and the effect they have on us Foreign Policy israel lobby is essentially an Interest Group its an Interest Group thats comprised of some American Jews not all American Jews by any means and a good number of non jews especially christian evangelicals and what we sometimes call christian scientists how influential is it exactly the israel lobby is one of the 2 or 3 most powerful Interest Groups in the United States every american president since the 1st george bush has been in favor of creating a palestinian state but because of the lobby its impossible for any president including president obama to put pressure on israel to stop building settlements and to allow the palestinians to have their own state there is nothing wrong with creating a powerful Interest Group their behavior is. As american as apple pie i wanted to see for myself how the lobby influences americas Foreign Policy so i went to washington 6 string with 4 of the people this fall to their members of congress in the house and the senate you tell us its like your representatives whats on their minds and how this country should be run the Zionist Organization of america holds its annual Advocacy Mission to capitol hill in the u. S. Senate building more than a dozen members of congress from both houses came to speak at the z. O. A. Lobbying event and show their support for israel joe this is where you want it so you know i had a whole lot of thank you it was. Good to see you know what he told me were going to say this is were going to have and say no more money for the last book of the if the if you want to have sent another come to this microphone to see how do we know us here in terms of the we were if you are. Another annual lobbying event in washington held by christians united for israel drew thousands of attendees to the Convention Center god gave them the land by water right by right of ownership he owned it he could give it to anyone he desired to and he gave it to Abraham Isaac and jacob by their children for robart he doesnt care what the United Nations thinks what the soviet union thinks what the poor ted thinks what the white house thinks the land belonged to the jewish people because after filming the event for most of the day inside the Convention Center my colleague was grabbed on the street outside detained and how does footage taken by private security hired by q 5 what was it that q 5 didnt want people to see. Mr speaker a nuclear iran is one of our Biggest National security threats and the number one existential threat to our ally the democratic jewish state of israel both the 0 enqueue 5 were lobbying for a bill to increase sanctions on iran the resolution passed almost unanimously in the house of representatives one week before a more moderate iranian president was to take office from what i saw in washington the israel lobby has a strong presence and influence with legislators. But not everyone believes that the power of the lobby is insurmountable the lobby is very powerful but its not the 800. 00 pound gorilla thats literally planted in the halls of the state department in the white house forbidding american policy from changing. From those who exaggerate its power actually play right into its hands dan flush there is an author and member of the Advisory Council of j. Street a liberal pro israel lobbying Organization Recently formed to challenge more conservative lobbying groups so why do we see u. S. Politicians while theyre campaigning even president obama before he was elected why do we see them coming out and making statements very supportive of israel while thats the 1000000000. 00 question isnt it is that not the lobby well its here. Its fear that money will go pour into the coffers of their opponents its fear theyll be criticized how can we pressure of the American Government to change its policy with regard to its i think is a question of mobilizing and persuading and encouraging the American Government that this is what is needed for for fundamental justice this is what is needed also for israel sake can you i think the occupation has been both a moral and a strategic disaster for israel and it is going to lead to the ultimate the destruction of the jewish state unless it ends how do you define yourself are you pro israel are you a zionist well i dont know what zionism means anymore. It means its one of these words that lost any meaning i consider myself very much pro israel in the sense that i believe that the jewish people need a homeland of their own and a place of refuge even in todays world dont you think its kind of hard for people from my generation especially to kind of grasp the idea of of a state for only one people that is israel its harder and harder as the memory of the extreme antisemitism of the 20th century get recede farther and farther away my role as an american jew is to fix whats broken there but i dont think my role is to demolish the whole premise of the jewish state i dont accept that dan fleshly is fighting to preserve zionism and israel but for some zionism itself is the problem philip weiss runs a profile is to me a news website called mondo weiss out of his home north of new york city he started the site because he found it hard to publish progressive views on israel palestine in the mainstream us media i dont think im that radical i just think im a liberal and im trying to rescue American Jewish tradition. Restore us to some of our ideals this is the motto its clear. Someone who is critical of the american israel relationship is generally relegated to the blogosphere or to british publications the internet is more demanding than any other form of journalism ive been in and ive been in journalism 3040 years and i spend unfortunate Mountain Time i mean a lot of time here in documenting whats happening in israel and palestine theres now a lot of competition as a journalist thats all ive ever pushed for is greater coverage of you know a lot of the atrocities and i really think thats happening in a big way what does it mean to be a zionist today scientism is. As muslim come see as. Its getting as much land with his few non jews on it as possible that is the absolute operating system of zionism from the start i mean their idealistic things about zionism hi i want to embrace aspects of zionism in rejecting it if i had been in central europe. In the 1900 or the turn of the century or 920 i think i would might well have been a zionist there were real conditions that created zionism those conditions are over in europe they are over in the United States and zionism is an anachronism the cake is baked its occupation and ethnic cleansing lets end zionism damn flush there raise concerns that the rhetoric of some on the left demonize israel which he says makes it harder for others to criticize israels actions philip weiss doesnt agree with the jim crow south demonized in the north yeah we demonized their atrocities happening in israel and palestine and were going to demonize that same regime that allows that to happen that allows that the cleansing and its an important part of this delegitimization is explaining what is going on i will never apologize for apartheid or support for apartheid never i will oppose it and i will bear witness against it thats my duty that is what i owe the palestinians to come back to the people who are complicit in that and saying no. That identification of zionism and judaism in the United States is breaking up and its just couldnt happen too soon its just a wonderful movie that i am participating ive always felt that the most important thing for americans to understand about whats happening in israel palestine is for them to look critically at the narratives they hold about the conflict and most importantly to see whats happening from the palestinian perspective. Im headed to the middle east to retrace my experience there and talk to palestinians about their stories. In the 2nd of identity exile Matthew Council travels to the middle east to retrace his steps housing in refugee rise. Of the worlds palestinian population and see the conflicts through the eyes of those who live it it breaks my heart to see this man whos been like a father to yearn for a place that he may never see i dont mean israel for me to go out about my son to. Hear a correspondent. For. How weve got a kid spread a shot was across much of south america some live he wants to coming into power of why the southeast of brazil over the next couple of days but im going to see the wettest of the weather but yes you can say pretty much everywhere with a chance of seeing some shabby way as we go through the next a dial to perhaps eastern side of brazil staying driest for longest will see that western weather gathering around paraguayan then watching its way into the southeast all of brazil what it says showers and to northern parts of argentina plenty of showers across the western side of the amazon peru ecuador colombia all seeing some very wet weather i would say its a very wet weather recently across the caribbean of course central western parts of the caribbean this is the latest location of storm 8 its been with us for a good week and a half you can see to sunday showing up on there so thats how long this storm has been with us has been swirling away its run its way across cuba southern parts of florida now in the process making a coast to north across the gulf of mexico so as we go on through choose day on and see well wednesday at a continues to slide its way further northwest was gradually pushing up towards the deep south of the u. S. Probably making landfall somewhere around alabama and florida border. A lot of the stories that we cover all highly complex so its very important that we make them as understandable as we can do as many people as possible no matter how much they know about a given crisis or issue all of the bugs and stuff like that hysteria the spell of day is over powering as aljazeera correspondents class will be strong to do. This is aljazeera. Out of their america this is the news hour live from doha coming up in the next 60 minutes. Celebrating a ceasefire deal azerbaijan praises an agreement to end the conflict and nagornokarabakh. Mania protesters storm paula and demanding the Prime Minister resign. Side barack out the man who negotiated on behalf of the palestinians for decades has died at the age