Israel Moves Ahead on Building Settlements; Brawls Break Out at Malls Across U.S.
SAVIDGE: Israel says it's pushing ahead with a plan to build hundreds of new homes in east Jerusalem, defying the new U.N. resolution condemning settlement construction there in the West Bank. The resolution led to a bitter war of words between the Israeli prime minister and the White House. Because although the U.S. abstained from the vote, a spokesman for Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu told CNN they have, quote, "ironclad information" that the U.S. pushed for the resolution. A claim the U.S. denies.</s>DAVID KEYES, SPOKESMAN FOR ISRAELI PRIME MINISTER BENJAMIN NETANYAHU: We have ironclad information from sources in the Arab world and internationally, and we're going to share that information with the incoming administration through the proper channels. And if the new administration chooses to share that information that's their prerogative.</s>BEN RHODES, DEPUTY NATIONAL SECURITY ADVISOR: By definition, it's not an ambush when President Obama and Secretary Kerry have been saying in hundreds of conversations and in public comments that Israeli settlement activity was pushing into the West Bank in a way that was making the two-state solution unachievable.</s>SAVIDGE: CNN's Oren Liebermann is in Jerusalem where he's been tracking these fast-breaking developments. Oren, I understand an Israeli official says that evidence of U.S. involvement will be in the U.N. and it will be shared with the Trump administration. What's the latest on the standoff?</s>OREN LIEBERMANN, CNN INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Well, they're being incredibly vague about what it is this information is or the evidence that they have against the U.S. administration. They say that a senior Israeli official says that it's information that indicates there were -- that the U.S. was a covert partner in pushing this through and advancing it. That's an accusation the U.S. has denied, not only the latest part of the accusation but going back until since the first time we heard it. The Palestinians deny it as well saying this was worked on with other countries and the U.S. decided to abstain. And yet, it's an accusation the Israelis have not let go, only ramping it up in the last few days -- Martin?</s>SAVIDGE: Then there's Secretary of State John Kerry. He's expected to deliver a speech later this week that will lay out President Obama's vision for the Middle East. I've covered the violence in that region for a long time and any hopes for peace are welcomed but 24 days left in your administration you come out with a peace plan? What do we know about this?</s>LIEBERMANN: Well, Martin, let me point out this is not without precedent. When Clinton's term was up, he laid out his peace plan that's now colloquially known as the Clinton parameters. It was Clinton's vision for peace. I suspect he came to the same conclusion, there's no immediate end to the conflict, so he decided to weigh in on how to solve the most complex and difficult issues in the region and that seems to be what Secretary of State Kerry intends to do, giving guidelines on how the U.S. views the complex issues, the status of Jerusalem, Palestinian refugees, borders and other issues. So, it's not uncommon. How seriously will it be taken? The Palestinians say they'll take it very seriously. They'll view it as a positive development. The U.S. weighing in trying to establish where the grounds are for making some progress on the complex issues. The Israelis are taking it seriously for the opposite reason. They're furious and would rather see Kerry not weigh in at all. They'd rather see Kerry and the U.S. have chosen to use the veto power a few days ago. This is how Kerry feels he can make a difference, lay out a vision that maybe one day we'll call the Kerry parameters.</s>SAVIDGE: Let's hope so. Oren Liebermann, thank you very much for joining us. I want to bring in David Andelman, who is editor emeritus at "World Policy Journal" and a columnist for "USA Today" and a CNN.com opinion contributor; and Michael O'Hanlon, a senior fellow at the Brookings Institution and the author of "Bending History, Barack Obama's Foreign Policy." Let me start with you, Michael. Netanyahu and Obama famously have been at odds. We've all seen this for the past eight years and now the Israeli prime minister has been saying how much he is looking forward to working with Donald Trump. So how exactly do we expect that things will change?</s>MICHAEL O'HANLON, SENIOR FELLOW, BROOKINGS INSTITUTION & AUTHOR: Well, you know, they're going to change a lot in tone and probably in substance based on where things have been now in the last week between Obama and Netanyahu. Even though I tend to, at a broad level strategically, agree with President Obama in criticizing the Israeli settlements, I wonder if this might be a tactical mistake by the Obama administration because we're setting up big risks with not only Netanyahu but also Trump. What I thought might have been a better approach is if President Obama and President-elect Trump could have issued a joint statement in which they might have looked for common American purpose that could have bridged January 20 and maybe we then veto the resolution but express concern about any settlements that would compromise the possibility of an ultimate two-state solution. In other words, President Obama try to use his wisdom, experience, and leverage on this issue to begin to influence the way Mr. Trump might pursue a peace process, rather than set up a stark confrontation between not only the us and the Israelis but Obama and the likely Trump approach.</s>SAVIDGE: That's creative, I'll give you that. And it sounds like it would have been a diplomatic way to approach and meld two administrations as well as foreign policy with a strong ally. David, I want to play for you some sound from the Palestinians. Here's what a senior member of the PLO told CNN this morning.</s>HANAN ASHRAWI, EXECUTIVE COMMITTEE MEMBER, PLO: This is something that Israel is not used to because it's used to getting preferential treatment and violating the impunity. We've been urging the U.S. to do what is consistent with its own long-held positions since the days of Ronald Reagan. Every single administration has said the settlements are illegal and must stop.</s>SAVIDGE: So I know Hanan Ashrawi well. We interviewed a couple of times. Clearly, the Palestinians would be in favor of the Obama administration and all that has been done. But they have to be fearful of the coming Trump administration, right?</s>DAVID ANDELMAN, CNN.COM OPINION CONTRIBUTOR & EDITOR EMERITUS, WORLD POLICY JOURNAL & COLUMNIST, USA TODAY: Yes, absolutely. My main concern right now for Israel is that they're becoming increasingly isolated. 14 members of the Security Council, all of the major western European powers voted against this and the French are holding a -- scheduled a big conference on Palestine on the 15th of January. So, the Israelis are painting themselves further and further into the corner. The Trump administration has new priorities, this will be one of them, the question is whether Netanyahu can rely on the U.S. to be its one and sole ally in the Western world in all of this.</s>SAVIDGE: Michael, I want to go back to your original picture you painted of these two administrations. What do you think will happen?</s>O'HANLON: I think with every passing year it further reduces the long-term hope for peace because of the fact of the settlements together with the deterioration of the Palestinian political debate internally, those two trends. So, that's why I'm most concerned not about settlements in general but about the specific settlements going into areas of east Jerusalem or the West Bank that take away the possibility of a future Palestinian state because they take away the ability for one land area to be held together contiguously. So, the U.N. resolution could have been more specific to say we understand some settlements will continue within certain areas where it's relatively harmless. You could imagine trades where the Palestinians could be compensated for certain settlement zones, what we're really worried about is where you rear breaking new ground or interrupting the different territories within the West Bank and east Jerusalem. That's where I would have liked to see more clarity. That's where I think Obama had a chance to work with Trump although that's conjecture, I admit.</s>SAVIDGE: There's so much more I'd love to talk to you about. David Andelman, thank you very much. Michael O'Hanlon, good to see you as well.</s>SAVIDGE: Up next, more on the death of actress Carrie Fisher. She played Princess Leia in the "Star Wars" films. And tributes for her from co-stars are flooding in. More on that coming up. Plus, mall brawls break out in more than a dozen locations -- say that five times real fast. What happened, or what is happening that causes so many kids to trade punches? Back after a break.