Hello im rob matheson this is the news our live from doha coming up in the next sixty minutes. There is no peace if someone uses. U. S. Recognition of jerusalem as israels capital costs a shadow over christmas celebrations in the palestinian territory and beyond. A show of solidarity people in the philippines pull together in the aftermath of a deadly Tropical Storm. Out of prison but in poor health perus former president Alberto Fujimori is pardoned. And aljazeera looks at the effect automation and ought to officially intelligence might have on developing economies. As billions of christers around the world celebrate christmas you. U. S. President Donald Trumps recognition of jerusalem as israels capital is looming large in this years festivities but francis is presiding over celebrations in the vatican hes been a vocal critical of trumps move and is calling for the status quo to be preserved palestinian leaders were among those attending services in bethlehem where there was also a message on jerusalem both francis said repeating what many others said before him hes not you that jews im a city of peace. Theres not peace if someone uses crude. It was in him to drink loads not to screwed. And its also being widely denounced by the International Community the u. N. General assembly voted to declare trunks jerusalem recognition as novel and void Harry Fawcett reports not going to city united and divided by faith. By its ancient walls this tiny patch of land has for millennia borne a power that has spread far beyond the. Stories of the three abrahamic faiths have jerusalem at their heart and the history of their sometimes tolerant often bloody relationship has soaked into the stones. And walk westward along the via dolorosa where christ carried his cross brings you after some twists and turns to the church of the holy sepulcher its here where jesus said to have been brought down from the cross his body cleaned and in tuned with all his resurrection three days later George Gently and took over from his father a secretary to the armenian patriarchate one of three denominations that manages the site hes had a bond with the place since boyhood but this is the central monument of the christians in the world i think the billion christians whether theyre protestant or orthodox and catholic see in this place as the most important place where rightfully so because the defining moments of the last week of cries took place within this building but he says its part of a larger religious monument to the city itself one that shouldnt be politicized suddenly this signature or. Makes the issue of jerusalem contest a been so its our duty and our mission as the residents of jerusalem both israelis and others. To link this issue of jerusalem outside contestation in his recognition of jerusalem as israels capital the us president spoke of continued freedom of worship for all faiths with final political borders to be decided but many here see in the president s unabashed backing of israels claim a cementing of israeli control over islams third holiest site. So this is one of the main entrances to the al aqsa mosque compound the mosque itself is run by the jordanian backed islamic work but the entrances to it are guarded by Israeli Forces and they can restrict access at their will palestinian academic marty addo heidi likens it to a roof being let out and withdrawn on a whim a feeling magnified by the trump declaration that he or thing which is my nightmare if israel today is going to translate such a declaration to implement what they claim solvent the over the city meaning to take over the site and to abort my presence. And kick us out of the of the city was. For the muslim faith this is the most closely connected place to have a prisoner made here at the shortest route to god thats because its from here that the Prophet Muhammad himself is said to descend to have we believe the Prophet Muhammad came all the way from mark extend to heaven the received his evaluation coming through jerusalem is experience historical religious message to us and to the world we belong here its part of us its really when you get up to the level of the skyline here in jerusalem you get a full idea of just how concentrated of the markers of the hundreds of years of religious history here those great domes behind me are the church of the holy sepulcher where jesus christ is believed to have been laid to rest in just a few hundred meters walk away you can see the gold of the dome of the rock which is in the al aqsa mosque compound where muslims come to pray every friday and just beyond that is the western wall. For jews the dome of the rock sits upon the temple mount site of the first and second jewish temples the western wall is the closest point in which they can pray it stones themselves said to be vested with divinity and rabbi and former opposition member of the Israeli Parliament the knesset lippmann says this place embodies the jewish connection to god and to jerusalem after two thousand years we would exile went from country to country cut at the continent but three times a day jews turned towards to receive them to pray twice a year in the most important moments we said next year in jerusalem since seizing East Jerusalem in one thousand nine hundred sixty seven israel has been trying to cement that connection with archaeological work that it says proves the temples historical existence which the United Nations has ruled illegal in occupied territory. Its a necessity to counter rejections of jewish history here when we hear president we celebrate the fact that someone somewhere in the world is given recognition to the capital which is going to our capital for three thousand years the heart and soul the jewish people are right as an independent country to declare our capital but he left room open for those negotiations to figure out what exactly that means when we say jerusalem is the jewish capital the thousands of years drusilla has changed hands the subject of a continuing struggle for control this latest chapter in that history has had its narrative shifted by the us president its eventual resolution seeming only to slip further into the future in this holy city that aljazeera occupied East Jerusalem. Well there have been reports in analysis saying how trumps decision has ended seventy years of u. S. Policy on jerusalem but is that we true as the u. S. Really been an unbiased broker in the middle east Peace Process while washington has been israels most loyal allies since the cold war its pumped in billions of dollars of aid and weapons bolstering what israel says is its right to defend itself as part of its core middle east strategy last year it signed a landmark deal touching fifty eight billion dollars in military assistance over the next decade the United States is also used to its permanent members status at the Un Security Council blocking draft resolutions against israel is used its veto power forty three times since nine hundred seventy the speculation the translators decision is driven by domestic politics eighty one percent of Donald TrumpsRepublican Party and sixty one percent of democrats favor israel. If you look at trumps core support base the white evangelicals more than half of them already support trumps decision on jerusalem its also about the power brokers of washington the different lobby groups that exact influence in american politics and Decision MakersAmerican Israel Public Affairs committee or a pac is the largest pro Israel Lobby Group and several president s like bill Clinton Barack obama and donald trump have vied for support during their reelection campaigns well earlier my colleague spoke to Shibley Telhami hes a professor for peace and development at the university of maryland she asked him if israel will ever agree to negotiate without the United States now that palestinian president Mahmoud Abbas says the u. S. Has no role as a mediator. You know in some ways it was actually a way out for mr our best because if you look at what the administration was reportedly offering it was something that he could not have possibly accepted we hear rumors of course we dont know all the details but certainly what has been put on the Table Including the suggestion that the palestinian sovereignty be quote moral sovereignty unquote something that no one could have accepted and certainly with the status of jerusalem as it is cant imagine how you can do it so in some ways it was hard for him to have pulled out if they had put a plan on the table that had support from song gone through such as saudi arabia that have a Good Relationship with the white house for more than twenty years the Palestinian Authority has been negotiating with the United States and year on year the u. S. Gives israel billions and billions of dollars even under the Barack Obama Presidency he gave israel the Largest Military aid packets in in history so why is it that right now about the saying that the United States is not a mediator and not an honest broker lets start with the fact that the post is a plane with an extremely weak and the survival yes has been a priority because it could have been a lot worse for them and on top of that you had this incredible division between hamas and fatah between gaza and the west bank that has made it so hard even for those people who care deeply about the palestinian question to know where to go here so this idea then that the united that trump has taken this Decision Just to appease his right wing constituency do you agree with that argument and and if that is the case well how can you take such a decision that could potentially have disastrous Foreign Policy consequences as were seeing as well as u. N. Isolation is this going to backfire on the u. S. In any way well you know with the interesting thing is there was no pressure on him to take this decision its extraordinary he didnt even wait to put on his plan for it to fail and say all right it failed it was rejected by the palestinians. Therefore im going to move the embassy i did a Public Opinion poll for the university of maryland Critical Issues poll just before in november sixty three percent of all americans opposed moving the embassy and a more recent poll after the decision by c. N. N. Also shows that a majority oppose moving the embassy to jerusalem and that included by the way forty four percent of republicans only forty nine percent republicans supported it prior to the decision even though even jellicoe were divided with forty percent opposing the decision no one was breathing down his neck yes hes trying to appease his base for sure and hes under investigation and he wants to have core support but frankly the evangelicals would not have walked away from him if he didnt do it right then if he had waited. Guatemalas president says this country will move its embassy in israel to jerusalem making it the first nation to follow Donald Trumps lead guatemala was one of nine nations that voted in support of the United States and israel last week at the Un General Assembly meeting on jerusalem status the country receives an estimated eighty Million Dollars annually from the u. S. Well peter hakim is a latin american political analyst hes joining us on skype now from washington d. C. Thank you very much indeed for your time sir why do you think guatemala is chosen to be the first country to do this. I think. Quite a model is a country. Field itself very dependent on the United States has over many years sought to accommodate the United States to find ways of assuring the United States that supported and frankly noted ceases tremendous influence in quite amala probably almost as much as any country in all of a latin america or almost any foreign country its been able to shape the policy in the program so quite a bit is there any reason to the timing of this that guatemala has decided to be the first country to make this announcement at this particular time rather than perhaps waiting to see who else might have gone ahead and done it before them. Well theres several important decisions that are awaiting quite amala that have to be taken by then one of the most crucial is what they call temporary protection status which allows has allowed quite a model in refugees from several natural disasters from the wars to take residence in the United States not permanently but temporarily with full rights. And how donald trump has threatened to. Terminate that status and begin the porting guatemalans or forcing them to to return to what im ali and so that thats one important but more generally the government that what a volatile day is a very weak government its being investigated by variety of different Government Agencies and International Agencies for corruption and i think what what amal is looking for is u. S. Support and the u. S. Support is what might. Keep quite a model more stable more safe and thats what the got of mali government is betting on on of course one of those organizations that was carrying out its those corruption investigations was the United Nations it has been very vocal in. Its criticism of Donald Trumps decision do you think that played a role at all in president jimmy more on his decision to do this. Like i say i think its part of a general sense of jimmy moore ollies the existing government much of the parliament the model that the United States is the safe harbor lets do it the United States. Just indicates ought to be done and that will make give us the kind of protection we need and very briefly serve you dont mind given the amount of. Strong response that there has been internationally to this do you think what amount has got anything to fear from the International Community. You know not really what amal is not the pendant very much in the International Community it is. Heavily dependent on its own. Sort of choices on the United States in somewhat on mexico but mexico is one of the countries that of course didnt vote on the. Movement of the u. S. Embassy to jerusalem so now i think what amal is. This is one path to for guatemalans to protect themselves if you are him always good to get your opinion in this thank you very much indeed for your time. Thank you appreciate. Things more ahead in the news hour including a leading opponent of russian president Vladimir Putin wants to run against him in next years president ial election well tell you why his name may never get on the ballot. Last the invitation to me and mars military thats raising eyebrows abroad. And in sports the gulf cup prepares for its second round of matches with the hosts already in a spot of bother peter is going to have all the details. More than two hundred people are dead after a Tropical Storm has devastated the southern philippines tens of thousands have been forced from their homes and a state of emergency has been declared in several areas more than one hundred fifty more people are missing as rescue efforts get underway across the region where rob mcbride is joining us live from manila rob as we well know in the alley hours of any rescue investor rescue effort are the most important ones whats the situation at the moment. Thats right as rescue teams continue looking for any survivors in mindanao amongst the debris and these tolerance of muddy water that affected many areas of the whole of the philippines really access to the damage this Christmas Morning of the amount of carnage and amount of destruction that this storm has caused to give you an idea rob the the province that suffered the highest death toll was in the northern part of mindanao the province that suffered the second highest casualty rate was right in the south of mindanao this really did cut a swathe across mindanao there have been a number of people affected obviously but it also went through an area where weve had recent months fighting between Government Troops in the area and the roue and groups that are linked with isis also already there was a population in the past it meant that al that was conflict affected and are now on this Christmas Day having to deal with the effects of this storm as it moves out into the South China Sea well. Rob the philippines is regularly hit by weather events like this there are questions already being asked about why the government wasnt pres prepared as it should have been for this. There is there is a controversy there are accusations and counteraccusations now flying here yes people are saying why didnt the government make more preparations f