a lot of putin has cast his ballot for russia's presidential election as the largest country in the world russia spans across eleven time zones which means the process will last at least twenty two hours for one hundred ten million eligible voters president putin is seeking a fourth term which will give him six more years in office the kremlin is aiming for high voter turnout to boost the gist of a sea of putin's expected victory and russians are better to the european union has suggested that the nerve agent used to poison a former spy could have originated in the u.k. the government the british government has dismissed the claim britain accuses moscow of being behind the attack a charge that denies russia and britain have expelled twenty three of each other's diplomats over the raul the foreign secretary boris johnson says international experts will conduct further analysis on the poison. sri lanka's president has lifted a state of emergency and a nationwide curfew imposed for twelve days has been following the rest of buddhist

understood in communities where the news headlines inside story is next to stay with us here on al-jazeera. the national home of the jewish people that's what a controversial bill that's being fast tracked through israel's parliament wants to achieve but where does that leave millions of israeli palestinians and what will be the regional fallout this is inside story.

a welcome to the program i'm adrian finnegan israel's right wing government is fast tracking a bill that will define the country as a nation state for the jewish people it was first introduced some years back but it faced strong opposition if it will promote jewish communities that strictly enforce rules that exclude the nearly two million israeli palestinians with the focus remaining on immigration by jews from abroad rather than protecting the rights of palestinian citizens the bill could become what israel considers basic law similar to a constitution and will be difficult to challenge in the future of course this all comes at a sensitive time in the region the u.s. is expected to move its embassy from tel aviv to jerusalem in the coming weeks and that's led to months of protests and confrontations between palestinians and israeli forces so we have a lot to cover with our guests today let's get straight on with it and bring. in from gaza we're joined by mccomb a political scientist at gaza's university from tel aviv which went by your see

balian former israeli minister of justice and member of the knesset for the labor party and here in doha not a me who's director of the center for middle east studies at the university of denver yossi beilin if we can start with you sir it's been watered down but has been described as zionism's flagship bill the law of all laws the most important law in the history of the state of israel one knesset member called it is it no it's nonsense it is going on since it is not a real low it is in the collaboration which ones to clarify that is his the homeland of the jewish people which is the case by the way we don't need a special lol for saying it and it seems like trying to imbalance the situation because you don't have anything referring to a future palestinian state that should be the homeland for the palestinian people so in the one hand it is irritating our neighbors in on the other hand we don't get

anything for. the childish you're see why is that. because it is an attempt of the most rightist government ever in israel to prove to its base that it is doing thing we of. which feat that genda of the extreme right so this is one of them and then that is they believe of the order of the knesset to fire members of knesset for the first time in our history. because of misbehavior or whatever and there is a law which enables theoretically their regulation of expropriating but esteem and land in the west bank and so on and so forth so they can come before the next elections with a long list of things which did not which are not changing the situation on the ground but they can see all these dings we did for the first time and it is the law

of the laws or whatever but they know that there is thank heaven a supreme court in israel and there is the media and there is the parliament and there is that only general and it is not so easy to change the situation even in the case of capital punishment that our defense minister is promoting today but he knows that even if there is a change in the law is where we know all use capital punishment he did not to do that in the past and it will not do it in the in the future but it can be a declaration not a house for me here in doha some of described this is a dangerous turning point for me is it even with some of its most contentious elements removed. well we have to wait to see but if this has the status of constitutional law that will bound the israeli supreme court forcing the supreme court to work within the boundaries of this new law then

we're moving in the direction of the institutionalization of an apartheid system in israel that confirms the worst fears and suspicions that many people have had with respect to where israel is headed in how it treats its palestinian population so i think this is a very disturbing element if it simply as yossi beilin has stated a declaration well governments can make declarations if it has the status of law then you know we're headed in a very dangerous direction do you suspect as a think you know she was alluding to that this has more to do with internal israeli politics than but it does with the lower itself well i think it absolutely does i mean we're seeing this across the world where these right wing governments are trying to cater to their base by you know moving in the direction of ethnic chauvinism but i think also in the case of israel it's having an external goal in mind as well it's trying to i think what netanyahu is trying to do here is trying

to block and subvert any prospects of a piece called a peace process effectively telling the palestinians that if you want to engage in peace negotiations a precondition will be recognizing. a state of israel that effectively is an apartheid state and that will be a requirement for advancing peace negotiations effectively meaning that no palestinian leader in good standing could ever do that so i think there's also an external impediment external i think motivation here that is very much geared to blocking an ending any prospect of a palestinian israeli peace and withdrawal of israel to its international borders and so i think that's a big part of the picture that needs to be discussed and analyzed before i bring in become of the not just give you a chance to to reply to that. well i don't think that it has to do with the world in the danielle doesn't need this such a low even a basic low a in order not to promote the peace process is doing it quite

successfully for the last day twenty all day years without such a law it is fall fall for the minute this is something which is confirming the situation in which according to the un but fission resolution of forty seven is very is a jewish state this is a this is fall form formby is thought from saying that you have to deprive the minorities if it is a nation state the only point here is that you don't have the balance with the palestinian side which you don't mention the rights of the israeli arabs and this is a problem that i don't think that this is the obstacle to words their peace with our neighbors and i don't think that even a time ya'll is going to put something like this as a precondition he says that we tout their recognition of israel as a do you state there would be no peace but he never said that we doubt them saying it in advance there will be no no negotiations but will come up in gaza what do you

make of what you've heard so far and even with some of its most contentious elements removed will this law establish an apartheid state in israel is it a dangerous perturbing point for the palestinians and for israeli arabs well let me say the following with all due respect to what was said by you said bin who everybody knows that he was the architect of the so-called agreement which was signed between the p.l.o. and his were back in september of ninety in ninety three and the essence of the oslo agreement was supposed to lead to a two state solution a palestinian state lives in peace and security next to the state of israel but what we have been seeing over the past few years especially since netanyahu came to power. lately in two thousand and nine we have been seeing a number of legislations by these where you can use it lit by the israeli right

wing inside israel who are trying to shame not only the cutout of israel but also trying to move swiftly toward even. and the an exception of the palestinian territories especially west bank and is chosen him now let me said that i agree with with you said ben in that this is an attempt by the of by the right wing government it is win it by then the quid party led by not the neo another party called the jewish party led by an if that had done it on another party called israel by to lead by the go live in amman all of these three parties are considered right wing parties in these way to government who are interested in changing the cut act out of the state of israel making it the home of the jewish people but let me also remind mr beilin that. yes the partition plan of nineteen forty seven called for the establishment of two stood one jewish state and another arab state

state but it's been seventy years since then and no palestinian state has been established no no palestinian state has has seen the sun yet so it does of course are a lot of the friction with the palestinian people in general since they have not been able to establish their own independent state and second it is definitely ending caution against the palestinian arabs who are a minority inside israel but they are twenty percent of the state of israel so by saying that israel is the nation stead of the jewish people what about the others than under was the original people of the the land the palestinians who have been there and there are systems for hundreds of years that are not in my opinion that is a violation of their right and a violation of their culture who have been living there for as i mentioned hundreds of years to come up with what to what extent do you think that the white house this decision to move the u.s. embassy to jerusalem this is playing into this does it. well what we have been

seeing is that there is a systematic merger by both the right wing government in israel led by netanyahu and by the extremists in the u. us without the us president doing of truong and the so-called. jewish lobby led by aipac and zionist christians the in but if it goes inside the us who are very much interested in another been pushing for the recognize in jerusalem as the capital of the stilt of israel and me getting the right to the palestinians of their ends of their own state we haven't seen any any . support for the commission of a palestinian state we haven't seen any any support from the us for the two state solution and that is the sense of the problem by moving the us embassy from tel aviv to jerusalem and declaring jerusalem as the capital of israel which will

probably be we will see it probably in the end may fifteenth which is the seventieth anniversary of israel yes the billion but its member of the knesset michael rosen said that this legislation proves just how ultra nationalist racist and dangerous this government is i think you were alluding to that a few moments ago but toward. extent is the trump administrator having an impact upon domestic israeli politics at the moment is it embolden the rice was trumps election key to setting this this legislation in motion after it had been sitting there for a number of years going nowhere what i wouldn't say that is the. key effect to heal but you know if we say in arabic. meaning the government is weak us and they i think that in israel the current government feeds today i'm mary can hold american government is we damn. which make the make it makes it is easier

to take right these decisions and they jewish home which is the most rightist polity in the coalition is putting pressure on attorney out all the time to exploit the situation when trump is the president and david friedman who is the best of the two as well who is to deride all of these who barely write these government when they're out there he says why you want to be the real thinks like and next thing the territory's or whatever for the time being i'm glad to see that it doesn't happen and i don't believe that it will happen but there is no question that the american administration isn't able to link day israeli right to demand more into hope for a real change which has not happened so far ok as we said at the beginning of the

program the passage of this bill through the knesset comes at a sensitive time for not just his robot the the region as a whole we've been talking about the that the move of the u.s. embassy to jerusalem saudi arabia's crown prince mohammed bin solomon has been in the u.s. recently was asked about the u.s. its decision to move its embassy to jerusalem here's part of what he told the american news program sixty minutes on how would a new we try to focus on the efforts that promote peace for all we do not try to focus on anything that might create tension because that is my nature always to be positive from a property damage or view so i try to focus on the things that will support the interests of the palestinian people and the interests of all not a house or me in doha we talked about how the trumpet ministration may be playing into israeli politics at the moment and emboldening some aspects on the right but where does saudi arabia's shifting stance on israel play into this. well i think. we are seeing a formalization of

a policy in saudi arabia that was long recognized but hidden now it's coming out into the open where saudi arabia now is effectively allied in terms of its regional view of the middle east with the state of israel and with the trumpet ministration and so it no longer really cares about palestinian self-determination and palestinian rights it's fundamentally concerned about consolidating power within saudi arabia i think that's very much the agenda of mohamed bin sultan the crown prince of saudi arabia challenging iran's position in the region and so the palestinians actually are no longer of interest. for the saudi royal family and so what we're seeing here is effectively a new solidification formalisation of an alliance between saudi arabia israel and the trumpet ministration with backing from the united arab emirates and egypt to try and effectively rewrite the political map of the middle east and in this

redrawing of the political map the palestinians will effectively get nothing and you know this was openly discussed in the new york times in the last month when mahmoud abbas traveled to saudi arabia and met with the saudi royal family and the effective leader told him look there's a new peace plan coming through the pipeline you need to accept it there's nothing that you can do about it and effectively it was a peace plan that gives the palestinians the what would amount to as a band to stand state something similar to what south africa tried to implement during the heyday of apartheid but now what happens to this alliance if at some point in the future president trump is removed or voted out of office if the administration is replaced by one for instance that takes a similar view in the middle east to the a bomb a ministration is saudi arabia going to shift its position again well i don't think so i think saudi arabia's position is very much concerned about domestic consolidation of power in challenging iran's position if put said. you have a hillary clinton figure coming to power in washington then obviously that

a key element of the alliance is no longer there but i think that doesn't really affect saudi arabia's view of the region particularly its view of the palestinians the saudi royal family and other you know corrupt authoritarian monarchies in the middle east always viewed the palestinians as a disruptive element in the politics of the middle east because they stare up domestic sort of passions within the authoritarian regimes they challenge the very compliant and corrupt policies of the authoritarian regimes and so there was never any very serious interest in really doing anything about palestinian suffering and now we're sort of seeing this you know formally coming into being with the policies of the crown prince and his alliance with benjamin netanyahu and jared cushion back in washington yossi beilin there are those who argue that the middle east peace process is it is dead is that a fair assessment can it be revived can it be dead. it will not be done until until it is so of the i mean of course it is it is there

and it is revived and we are talking to each other informally and you know i believe that at the end of the day and the ones who kill for the palestinians many of us in israel and vice versa because we are unable because we dependent on each other in many many ways and that is why the world may say this is not a problem it can be solved jerusalem is off the table is on the table it's nonsense it's nonsense we know what is on the table we know what are the red lines of each other we know really what is important and we know the secret that it is solvable it depends very much on us so if and when the americans decide to put on the table their plane i hope that it will be possible for us there is rarely peace camp in the palestinian peace camp to create a common reaction to it and to say ok these are these things are beyond the red

lines of both sites what we suggest is a b. and c. as we did in the past in my understanding sweetapple muslim in ninety five in the geneva accord of two thousand and three we can fill the mall door there to even think about new ideas like a configuration between to serve an independent states or something like that we are not lost we are not lost we are having de ideas and we are having the needs which is the most important thing we need peace both of us become what you make of what you've just heard there is a political suicide for the palestinians refuse he beat to meet with the u.s. following the decision to move the embassy to jerusalem and i'm saying that the they cannot be honest brokers any any more. well what i know is the following since the from declaration of you to saddam is the capital of israel of the

palestinian leadership has decided that the us is not an honest broker in the palestinian israeli conflict and that the you are such as chosen to do so and second the foulest in your leadership has decided to boycott any american officials especially the so-called white house peace team led by gears of course not just in greenland the us ambassador in tel aviv david friedman and i believe that there are no chances of any palestinian american contacts in the near future as long as this american team is in is in power and they are. in support of the so called. of the right wing israeli government in israel and let me also what month one more point that as long as netanyahu on the right wing. parties the likud the jewish home israel by two modern control of these way to government there are no chance of peace or the chances for the two state solution between the

palestinians and israel is no longer there i believe there has to be ashamed inside is where there has to be a change in the israeli society that has to be a change where the israeli voters have to throw this government out on the brink back a peace government a government led by the zionist. camp or the labor party which is dedicated to the two state solution and the ticket it has to come the conciliation with the palestinians but this government the government which is led by nothing you know doesn't bear more than a lip service to the two state solution and let me let me be more frank with you when netanyahu in the last election campaign he said exactly there will be no palestinian statehood under my watch it's except listen it's of. he couldn't say it more than any other than that so i doubted that there would be any chance

for a settlement of the palestinian his way to govern the government then you know around his right wing government not a hushmail we've been talking about the the shifting sands in the middle east as we look into the future of politics in the region we've got a palestinian leadership that is aging. better so rumblings about the stability of israel's prime minister netanyahu facing corruption allegations who could be the future leaders in the region and could the ground shift again could the peace process be revived under a new generation of leaders. thanks for that question i think what is really needed here to advance a serious peace process is a fundamental and substantive change in palestinian leadership the current palestinian leadership under mahmoud abbas and the previous one the latter days of yasser arafat were effectively a joke they were a disaster the palestinian people deserve a lot better the palestinian leadership has invested far more energy time and

effort in trying to change. the minds of the occupants of the white house than they have in their own people and so what the palestinians fundamentally need is a responsible credible leadership something along the lines of what happened in south africa under the african national congress that can organize a global civil society movement for peace and justice in palestine based on two states and international law this is something that the current palestinian leadership has never tried there so monumentally corrupt that actually you know to call them a joke is to be too generous in my characterization of them so unless that happens unless there's a serious palestinian leadership that can really represent palestinian interests i don't think we should wait for in some sort of magical leadership to emerge in israel or some credible you know so-called honest broker to emerge in washington this is really on the palestinians to get the. a national movement to get their house in order and to provide the leadership that can provide them with you know goalposts and momentum and hope that can lead to

a palestinian state and one very quick question you talked about the palestinian and israeli leadership what about that what about the u.s. to this or this depend upon it the change of leadership in the u.s. a very quick answer please sure i mean it would certainly help but i don't think the palestinians should wait for some credible leadership in the united states to emerge the south african certainly didn't do that i think i think if there's a credible palestinian leadership that can mobilize you know civil society in the united states and global civil society that leadership in the united states will then i think emerge as a result of you know the development of a peace constituency within the united states which actually exists but it's not consolidated it's not politically effective so i don't think that's a precondition for peace that somehow we have a proper leadership in washington d.c. i really think the problem is among the palestinian national movement ok the general i'm afraid we're going to have to leave it there of time thank you all for being with us. yossi beilin another hashmi as always thank you for watching don't forget you can see the program again just by going to the website we're out of zero

dot com for further discussion join us facebook page facebook dot com forward slash a.j. inside story and you can join the conversation on twitter handle at a.j. inside story for me adrian for the good of the entire team here and thanks for watching i'll see you. when the winning the will of the people hinges on the mass media state p.r. machine is going to overdrive. but just east can fill in saying.

we just don't know yet where the lines will be drawn between what can be said and what conduct that. some journalists decided to sacrifice their integrity for access to polling the media or opinion the listening post but based time on al-jazeera one of the really special things about working for al-jazeera is that even as a camera woman i get to have so much empathy and contribution to a story i feel we cover this region better than anyone else working for us as you know is that each other's lives out of it but together because you have a lot of people that are divided on political issues we are we the people we live to tell the real stories are just mended is to deliver in-depth journalism we don't feel inferior to the audience across the globe.

al-jazeera it's just swear every since. it's. facing realities growing up when did you realize that you were living in a special place a so-called secret city getting to the heart of the matter while it is activists to live in jail just because she expressed herself up here their store on the talk to al-jazeera at this time. hello again i'm out in dallas in doha these are the top stories here at al-jazeera the turkish president roger tire better one has declared the center of the syrian city of a freeing to be entirely under the control of his forces the turkish flag has already been raised in the former kurdish stronghold free syrian army forces backed by the turkeys.