states is in the region to stay, and we're not pulling out any time soon. >> john king, the one thing we didn't hear about today was settlements. why is that, and is that going to be discussed over the next couple of days? >> reporter: well, it will be discussed in the morning. you can be syrian, piers, when president obama goes to see mahmud abbas, his top complaint, i'm not coming back to the bargaining table until israel stops building settlements in the west bank. and i'm interested in senator mitchell's views on this. i was in two israeli settlements. there is construction on both settlements right now. not major expansions but new subdivisions. and the israeli government is debating whether to have the green light for a major new settlement on a parcel called e-1. and president obama did not mention settlements. there are a couple opportunities today where he could have turned to his counterpart and said you must stop. he has said that in the past. i'm sure it came up in the private conversation. but the president decided not to pick a public fight with the prime minister. but that is one of the huge