This is zero. Zero zero m. C. Test and this is the news hour live from london coming up. The United States is no longer a credible mediator in the Peace Process the palestinian president condemns the u. S. After the u. N. Rejects Donald Trumps recognition of jerusalem as the capital of israel spains Prime Minister turned down an offer from catalonia ousted leader to meet a after separatist parties retained a slim majority in thursdays reelection. Warring parties in south sudan signed a ceasefire deal allowing humanitarian access to civilians and apple faces lawsuits in the u. S. Making it deliberately slow down older models of the i phone. And on peter stammered in doha with the latest sports news we host nation kuwait lose their opening twenty seventeen gulf cup match to saudi arabia that and more later this news hour. Palestines president says his country wont accept any. The u. S. Back to middle east peace plan Mahmoud Abbas was reinforcing his position after the u. N. Rejected president chums decision to recognize jerusalem as israels capital of ass also urged france and europe to step up and play a bigger role in peace efforts after meeting the french president in paris thats actually has more from there. It was no surprise that the Palestinian Leader greeted the french president warmly as he arrived at the elise a palace emanuel mark karr has been a staunch critic of the United States decision to recognize jerusalem as the capital of israel after talks on the crisis Mahmoud Abbass said the palestinians could no longer accept a u. S. Peace plan. The United States is no longer a credible mediator in the Peace Process we will not accept any plan on the part of the us because of the parties and failing and because of this violation of International Law. Mccraw has stepped up efforts to mediate in the crisis meeting with the king of jordan and israels Prime Minister earlier this month he wants to try and help revive talks but he has ruled out unilaterally recognizing palestine as the state saying it would be unhelpful at this time these americans and the americans have marginalized themselves and im trying not to do the same thing that i think frances credibility lies in taking a position as we have today where we can talk to everyone Emanuel Michael says hes using frances position as a country that has good relations with all sides to try and help and with the palestinians there longer considering the u. S. As an honest broker it could leave the door open for france to play a greater role. Through what weve seen as a manual macron getting really involved even of this is a very sensitive situation is much at stake frances position is difficult but macron to really looking to restore the rants once ahead and put it on the National Stage much the decision by the u. S. On driessen continues to draw International Condemnation thursday more than one hundred twenty countries including france back to u. N. Resolution demanding washington withdraw its decision and across the world politicians continue to voice their concerns. Japan supports the position that the conflict between israel and palestine should be resolved between them including the sharing of the final status of jerusalem. Great importance to the police time issue because with things palestinians also absolute to reach rights to establish their own country. Malaysias Prime Minister led a protest in the administrative capital putrajaya on the. Macro says he has no plans for a French Peace Initiative he says hes waiting to see what the u. S. Has to offer but with the palestinians ruling out washingtons unfoldment france and the European Union could be called upon to fill the gap. Aljazeera paris. Meanwhile in gaza Israeli Forces fired tear gas at angry protesters during what Palestinian Leaders are calling a day of rage welcome weapons more on those demonstrations border with israel the gaza cities just a couple of hundred meters over there the border with israel just about one hundred meters over there and for hours all afternoon a crowd of dozens of protesters have been trying to get as close as they can to the fence trying to plant palestinian flags and throwing stones and the Israeli Soldiers along the fence retaliated with some gunfire and many volleys of tear gas has been a lot of tear gas the aljazeera teams breathe a lot of it this is one of about six places along the separation wall in the fence that goes around gaza where these kinds of clashes been happening similar to what happened last friday and the friday before the third day of rage Palestinian Leaders with different factions that have described it and part of the ongoing series of protests that happened ever since President Trump announced on the sixth of december that the u. S. Would recognize jerusalem as the capital of israel. Phyllis bennis is the Program Director of the new interest internationalism project at the institute for policy studies and she joins us live from washington d. C. Thanks very much for joining us on aljazeera i just ask you first of all about the point that the palestinian president has said now theyre not listening to any kind of peace plan that the u. S. Might be bringing in of course the one jarrad christian is supposed to be about to unveil in the new year i guess is the will now talking about its a real chance they could be shooting themselves in the foot here with that because of course with so much International Backing almost has the u. S. On the back votes. No i dont think that theyre shooting themselves in the foot as you put it i think this is a long overdue recognition by the Palestinian Leadership of a position long held by the majority of Palestinian People which is that the United States has never been an honest broker it wasnt twenty five years ago it wasnt twenty years ago it hasnt been under any of these administrations and it isnt now so the deal that was being proposed by the u. S. In these negotiations between jared cushion or and the crown prince of saudi arabia had far more to do with building a an anti Iran Coalition in the middle east that would involve both saudi arabia and israel hopefully normalizing in their view and they wanted to put into place something that would make that politically acceptable it was a kind of a set of parameters that no Palestinian Leader would have been able to accept it included explicitly a noncontiguous statelet the the capital would be probably outside of jerusalem in a in a Little Village called outside of the city of jerusalem it would not have any kind of sovereignty over its air over its water over landing rights over control of its own borders it would not be a state at all that was going to be the u. S. Parameters it would never have been accepted and going through the motions of it simply kicks the issue down the road i think what were looking at here is a moment when the Palestinian Leadership has been forced to acknowledge what has long been the position of the population which is that the u. S. Has no intention of bringing israel to the table on any serious human rights respecting International Law respecting u. N. Resolution respecting proposal so also given that its time to see what other options might be out there alone not what other options obviously weve seen president speaking alongside the palestinian president but other names countries that have been muted because there are delegations been sent from palestine and of course china and russia who would your money beyond to fill this void that the u. S. Media mediator is going to leave behind. I think its a huge mistake to say that there is going to be a single country acting as a mediator the European Union collectively may have a role to play they have very strong economic pressures they could bring to bear on israel to end its occupation of Palestinian Land and stop the settlements the United Nations is where negotiation should reside by International Law according to un resolutions themselves it should not be left into the hands of any one government and it also means that governments have to get over this notion of saying theres going to be a two state solution there is no other option there are other options it certainly isnt up to me to say whether its going to be one state or two state red state blue state thats not the issue here the issue is how do we get a solution thats based on justice thats based on equality for all whether its within one state or within two states and between two states if there are two this is a situation today of apartheid you have one territory what is now israel the west bank and gaza and occupied East Jerusalem all constituting one territory under the control of one government the Israeli Government and Israeli Military ruled by two different Legal Systems for two different populations and that difference which legal system whether the military Justice System which means in justice or the civilian Justice System which one is determined by Race Ethnicity language religion thats the definition of apartheid in International Law the question of how you deal with apartheid is not necessarily you divide that one state into two it could also mean a long political battle for civil rights equality and against apartheid similar to what was done in south africa thats an option that some palestinians are calling for again its not up to me to choose but it is important that we recognize that there are options when you have a situation where six hundred fifty thousand illegal Israeli Settlers are now. Living in the occupied west bank in occupied East Jerusalem thats not a viable situation and of course for a mediator to be able to step in as you talk about the other the other side the other party has to come to the table as well who would israel accept as somebody that could help bring the two together having so used to having this enormous powerful power of the u. S. On its shoulder. I think at the moment there is no other power that israel would like to come to the table with the problem we have to recognize is that for israel the status quo is quite sustainable for all the rhetoric that we hear the status quo is simply not sustainable for israel the status quo is completely sustainable for palestinians it is not its palestinians who are dying again today two more people have been killed in gaza and the one who wants to say that gaza is not occupied by israel because that one point they pulled the troops out now the troops are simply firing over the fence and killing palestinians in gaza thats occupation it means control so i think that we have to get away from this notion of what country is going to come to the table under whose auspices we need an entirely different system here palestinians themselves are going to lead it and it may be that they lead in a direction that says our struggle is for equality and the issue of how many states is simply not the most important question always good to get your interpretation for the spanish thank you so much for joining us on aljazeera. Still to come on the aljazeera news hour the main powers backing is syrias warring sides push for another round of talks to end six years of civil war. And peruse president survives an Impeachment Vote over corruption allegations. Plus in sport the countdown is on to be one of the biggest games in football details with peter coming up. The spanish Prime Minister has rejected a call by catalonia ousted leader. To hold talks after separatists parties won a slim majority in thursdays Regional Election but Mariano Rajoy has suggested hes open to future dialogue and says the next council and government a suspect the law paul brennan reports from the us alone. When all sides claim victory who actually wins its a question cattle lands are asking themselves today. Winning thirty seven problem entry seats the turning is Biggest Single Party is now the Citizens Party progun a team leader in the us i dont mind us. But the three main secessionist parties together one seventy seats and so they hold the parliamentary Majority Council only has deposed president carlos priest or more celebrated in brussels where hed fled to avoid arrest on sedition charges and hes made a new offer to the government in madrid and i get sent eaglesham one should just dig that out about im willing to meet Prime Minister avoid brussels or any other european state that is in spain about brazil obvious reasons im willing to do it so that we can address this new political era starting in catalonia spain and europe it is an era presided over by Political Solutions not by common repression that we find ourselves in by now. The response today from the Spanish Government suggests dialogue might just be possible that new york given the person i would need to sit down with is the winner of the election and thats mr. I will make an effort to maintain a dialogue with whatever government comes out of these elections but as ive said before i will also ensure that we follow the law. On polling day voters of all sides spoke to us about wanting a return to normality with the results now in a straw poll of barcelona citizens found dissatisfaction with the outcome. Without favoring one side or another i think theyve hurt catalonia a lot with this independence issue. I think that the Citizens Party which one doesnt represent the majority of catalans i think the majority of people favor the probably independence party. I dont think its a good result the lift just parties have been marginalized and i dont see a solution for the differences between two clear blocks. So for now the spotlight appears to be on the attitude of the new Catalan Government i would say they will slightly step back this doesnt mean that they are announced today independence more but they will i think they got softer approach first because they were slightly less than fifty percent of the balls and they think thats important second because theyre hard line by the Chinese Government in this elections have produced a rather messy outcome with both sides able to take positives from the results but neither side able to land the kind of knockout blow that they might have hoped for everything now depends on the succession this bloc and whether they will choose confrontation with madrid or compromise. Aljazeera barcelona. Hole now joins us live from outside the council in parliament and barcelona call this vote was supposed to sort things out this was supposed to be the end of this political crisis what do you think is going to happen next that can bring the two sides together. Will certainly it was the spanish Prime MinisterMariano Rajoy boys political gamble that calling these snap elections and dissolving the old Catalan Parliament could draw a line and effectively undermine the Secessionist Movement but that gamble has soundly backfired because once again the procession bodies have renewed damage already in the capital and column and now last we heard in pools report there yes the colace pushed him on from belgium where hes in selfimposed exile so a said to mr rajoy lets talk mr raffle is turned around and said why should i talk to you youre not even the head of the capital and government right now and then mr ruff was going on to say i am prepared to talk but within the framework of the law the devil is in the detail lead because what missed that out for you means is that he will not talk about secession because he is always maintained that secession and even the very talk of secession is outside the framework of the law essentially what mr hoyer is trying to do is to say yes ok my gamble has backfired but you still must respect my initial decision which is that catalonia cannot break away that is what effectively is setting the scene for continued confrontation because neither side really is any closer than they were not toba to sitting down and talking seriously about how they can be a way out of this crisis so i was actually mean to governing the area first of all of course madrid took back direct rule is that switched back again and what about the the those. Either in exile or