jerusalem. why jerusalem has such a magnetic draw to everyone in the world but also especially to me why i wanted to write this book. jerusalem is a lens through which you can write a history of the middle east, a history of the world almost. and the exciting thing about it, it has actually been conquered by just about every single great civilization you care to mention, you know? the asyrians, the romans, the greeks and going right up to the turks, the british and now the israelis. so in every way it's a fascinating place, it's a fascinating gateway, if you like, to see the history of the world. >> host: is jerusalem strategically located? how did it become so vital? >> guest: absolutely not. absolutely not. it's not strategically valuable at all. it became strategically valuable when it became a great city and a great fortress. but actually, it's far there the trade routes. when armies are invading up and down, are invading egypt or from egypt invading in towards syria, they march up the coast

we head deep under the city of jerusalem. it's a journey to find the ark of the covenant when "back to the beginning with christiane amanpour" continues. >>> and now it's captivated us for centuries. from the raiders of the lost ark all the way back to the nights of the crusades. but what really happened to the ark of the covenant and can it be found? "back to the beginning with christiane amanpour" continues. >> even today, the truth behind so many biblical stories that took place here in jerusalem is still captivatingly elusive. that's in part because so many answers may be buried underneath what today is a living, breathing, city. it's notoriously difficult to dig under the old city of jerusalem. >> it's very difficult. it is very sensitive. we are talking about holy places of the three main religions. >> it's so politically charged? >> it's so politically charged. >> this is a biblical scholar and tour guide. she took us to one of the only places where archaeologists, pilgrims, and tourists can explore beneath this storie

the rebels seized jerusalem. the first jewish revolt had begun. >> ( dramatized ): truly the battle is thine! their bodies arerushed by the might of thy hand, and there is no man to bury them. >> narrator: it seemed that the fiery predictions of the essenes were about to come true. >> most people in the first revolt really thought it was the apocalyptic event; it was the coming of a new kingdom on earth. several of the leaders within the revolt really claimed to have messianic identity or prophetic identity. >> ( dramatized ): they shall be a flaming torch in the straws to consume ungodliness. >> narrator: true to their beliefs, the essenes marched out to fight the romans, and were annihilated. >> even many christians thought that the war was the actual apocalyptic event. >> ( dramatized ): valiant warriors of the angelic host are among our numbered men, and the hero of war is with our congregation. >> narrator: a prisoner of war who defected to the roman side, the jewish historian josephus personally witnessed t

we head deep under the city of jerusalem. it's a journey to find the ark of the covenant when "back to the beginning" with christiane amanpour continues. ♪ ♪ ♪ [ tires screech ] chewley's finds itself in a sticky situation today after recalling its new gum. [ male announcer ] stick it to the market before you get stuck. get the most extensive charting wherever you are with the mobile trader app from td ameritrade. wherever you are with the mobile trader app life with crohn's disease ois a daily game of "what if's". what if my abdominal pain and cramps end our night before it even starts? what if i eat the wrong thing? what if? what if i suddenly have to go? what if? but what if the most important question is the one you're not asking? what if the underlying cause of your symptoms is damaging inflammation? for help getting the answers you need, talk to your doctor and visit crohnsandcolitisadvocates.com to connect with a patient advocate from abbvie for one-to-one support and education. where does the united states get m

we head deep under the city of jerusalem. it's a journey to find the arc of the covenant when "back to the beginning with christiane amanpour" continues. ast with tu. heartburn relief that neutralizes acid on contact and goes to work in seconds. ♪ tum, tum tum tum tums! to help secure retirements and protect financial futures. to help communities recover and rebuild. for companies going from garage to global. on the ground, in the air, even into space. we repaid every dollar america lent us. and gave america back a profit. we're here to keep our promises. to help you realize a better tomorrow. from the families of aig, happy holidays. congestion, for the smog. but there are a lot of people that do ride the bus. and now that the buses are running on natural gas, they don't throw out as much pollution into the air. so i feel good. i feel like i'm doing my part to help out the environment. >>> and now it's captivated us for centuries. from the raiders of the lost ark all the way back to the nights of the crusades. but what rea

its capital, the holy city of jerusalem, is teeming with pilgrims for the springtime feast of passover. many of them looking for an earthly key, a messiah who will deliver them from the yoke of roman oppression. into this powder keg walks jesus of nazareth. his protests against the romans make him a popular hero. to some, he is the messiah. but to the romans, he's political trouble, so they crucify him. the followers of jesus believed that he has risen from the dead and will soon usher in the kingdom of heaven, but when and how will this new faith survive -- after jesus? today, more than 2 billion people call themselves christians, people who believe jesus rose from the dead. but perhaps it's a miracle that christianity did not disappear when the romans crucified jesus on a lonely hill outside jerusalem almost 2,000 years ago. >> this region, jerusalem and judea, represented an important land bridge between syria and egypt. so throughout history, this has been a critical place. >> jerusalem had been the holy city of judaism for more than 1,000 years, a place that the romans had occupie

jerusalem is more than a place. you know, jerusalem is an idea. jerusalem is an ideal place where there are no slaves, where everybody has freedom. >> does that mean the exodus continues, we never leave egypt, so to speak? >> or even if we're lucky enough to have left egypt, has everybody left egypt? one of the great ironies of celebrating a seder now is our thoughts are often with egyptians and their struggles. ♪ >> when they were marching in tahrir square, what was great was here was freedom that was born in the soil that had come back to the soil. >> what the moses story stands for is that the power is with the powerless. ♪ >> we had no guns. we hardly had a vote. we had no money. the only power that we had was the moral high ground and god. ♪ i shall be free ♪ someday >> coming up, just minutes from now, the ten commandments. what really happened on that mountaintop? and what do you find when you climb sinai today? follow the amazing journey when "back to the beginning with christiane amanpour" returns. to help communities recover and

about 20 minutes from jerusalem. it feels like an alternate universe for a number of reasons. one of these women is jewish. one is muslim, from a nearby village. they're partners, co-owners of majda, and also married. they're unsurprisingly friends of yotan. together they grow and raise much of what's used in their kitchen.

oh what a relief it is. >>> jesus came back to jerusalem, the gospels tell us, during passover. as a devout jew, he had been to the great temple many times before with his family. but now he came at a politically charged time with a provocative message. >> passover is the feast of freedom. the city has swelled with well over a million pilgrims. there's a concern for roman occupation. pilate has brought his troops into the city. anybody who talks about the kingdom of god, and even more, anybody about whom the word goes out, this is a new king, is clearly a political liability. >> and not just a liability to the romans, but to the jewish hierarchy led by their high priest, ciaphas. in one of the most vivid passages in the gospels, a furious jesus enters the temple to cleanse it of the money changers he finds there. >> overturning the temple tables of the money changers and the offerings that were being sold. which was the necessary business of temple work. it was a direct prophetic assault on the religious institution. in a way, he was saying that a new era was beginning. this was

and that he would go up to jerusalem, he would be tortured, he would be beaten, he would be crucified, he would die and he would rise again. this was not an expectation that they had for the messiah. >> so the gospels say when the disciples showed up at jesus' tomb three days after his death and found it empty, they were astonished. jesus said he would rise from the dead. had his prophecy been fulfilled? ♪ [ sniffles, coughs ] shhhh! i have a cold with this annoying runny nose. [ sniffles ] i better take something. [ male announcer ] dayquil cold and flu doesn't treat all that. it doesn't? [ male announcer ] alka-seltzer plus fights your worst cold symptoms plus has a fast-acting antihistamine. oh, what a relief it is! to help secure retirements and protect financial futures. to help communities recover and rebuild. for companies going from garage to global. on the ground, in the air, even into space. we repaid every dollar america lent us. and gave america back a profit. we're here to keep our promises. to help you realize a better tomorrow. from the families of aig, happy holidays

and that he would go up to jerusalem. he would be tortured, beaten, crucified, he would die and he would rise again. this was not an expectation that they had for the messiah. >> so the gospels say when the disciples showed up at jesus' tomb three days after his death and found it empty, they were astonished. jesus said he would rise from the dead. had his prophecy been fulfilled? ♪ ♪ >>> the defining moment came three days of jesus' death and the gospels told us he rose from the tome to the downcast followers. they believe the gospels were wrote backwards starting with jesus' death because those were the facts they knew best and the facts that launched their faith. ♪ ♪ >> what makes jesus different isn't that his message was different. what makes him different is that after he was executed, his followers claim that he was rose from the dead. christianity begins when jesus followers proclaim his rest sore recollection. >> that was the point science stops and faith begins. ♪ ♪ >> skeptics have explained the res

it can take two to three hours depending on traffic near jerusalem. for mary and joseph traffic wasn't a problem. they had to worry about herod the great and the rugged terrain. which route did the holy family take? that's next. >>> welcome back to the nativity, fact, fiction, and faith. 2,000 years ago, one in 8 people in the world was dominated by the roman empire. >> so we are now standing overlooking an ancient over looking an ancient jewish village or more of a town than a village. it was called gomla it comes from the word meaning camel. it is shaped like the hump of a camel. >> she is an expert on daily life in the time of jesus. >> coming down you see the breech in the wall where you actually have a hole that was bashed through the wall and then you continue down the wall continues down the slope of the hill. so you just -- one of the things you have to image when you are here is the roman legions stationed out here all of this artillery the catapult and then they are bringing battery rams. >> 30 years after her crucifixion a defensive wall wa

he redid and improved the water systems in jerusalem. he built the fortress palace, and he built where we are now, herodium, another fortress palace. >> he's respected as israel's greatest builder, but reviled as a paranoid mad man who killed his wife, three of his children and jewish rabbis. in matthew's gospel, when the wise men followed the star and asked herod where the king of the jews has been born, he commands his soldiers to kill all the babies in bethlehem. the slaughter of the innocents. would mary and joseph have felt oppressed in a sense? >> i would have in their position. already feeling threatened, you know, just from the years of roman rule that this would have been a very intimidating place for them. ♪ >> why are luke and matthew's nativity stories so different? >> different audience, different authorship, different needs for the community. the gospels are four different perspectives on jesus' life. if you look at matthew, he says jesus came not to abolish the tora but fulfill it. >> why would the nativity story be mean

he re-did and improved the water systems in jerusalem. he built the fortress palace on top of mosada and he built where we are now herrodia another fortress palace. >> he is respected as israel's greatest builder but reviled as a paranoid mad man who killed his wife, three of his children, and the rabbis of the jewish dynasty. in matthew's gospel when the magi followed their star and asked herrod where the king of the jews has been born, he commands the soldiers to kill all the babies in bethlehem. the slaughter of the innocence. >> would mary and joseph felt oppressed? i would have in their position. already feeling threatened, you know, just from the years of roman rule that this would have been a very intimidating place for them. >> why are luke and matthew's story so different? >> different audience. different geography. different authorship, different needs for the community. the gospels are essentially four different perspectives on jesus' life. if you look at matthew's gospel. jesus says i have come not to abolish it. i come to ful

that is why security led our agendas in jerusalem and ramallah this week. i want to make it clear, we have been at this since april, when we announced the resumption of talks in the months -- and the months preceding were dedicated to trying to get there. by necessity, we have had to do some groundwork, some due diligence in order to be able to address these legitimate concerns and questions in a way that they have never been addressed before. in ramallah this week, we engaged in that discussion as well as in jerusalem. general john allen, sitting right here in the second row, has done extraordinary work. he commanded our coalition forces in afghanistan, trained up 350,000 troops there, not to mention the tens of thousands in iraq. this is a man who knows how to build capacity. he recently retired as a four- star marine corps general, and he is one of the best military minds in america. and he has been asked by the president and me and the secretary of defense to lead this effort of a security dialogue with the idf. he is helping us make sure that the borde

. >> you have also written about the city of jerusalem. >> just. >> why is jerusalem jerusalem? >> why is it such a problem? >> why did it become the place where all three of the major religions of the world i'll claim this and this is part of historical events and the fact that jerusalem was key to the people of israel of the biblical times and that jesus died there. and they had made it a central place. the cultivation of this one of the oldest and most universal forms of expression to a holy place and you find it in every culture and it's one of the earliest that is recorded and it seems to be a form before we mapped our world out scientifically and we developed a sort of sacred geography were certain places were central to eyes to where we are and it was a holy city because it was holy to most muslim jews whose pockets they celebrated and you have shrines dedicated to the product of israel in this part of them as well as for mohamed. so it is again, it is a sense of continuity there with the past and it becomes a sort of contested case when people think it belongs to them. a

it's nice st chains making its members i continue with the country as well as in jerusalem. they comprise of the bed two percent of the israeli population. just an out of the unseen very proud to have such interesting souvenir. i was always his hair was tied going to be as there is going to type up the heat. nowadays we don't have to pull out of jeff ooi of its field in his sleek and easy cheap and the children can come here and next to the team to compete as they say the upbringing get to some souvenir the christians with satan. as christians in israel. hidden among the cuts are led by the religious style like a job thought we'd all sit in a christmas has received little mud on the hot new guy and all of these and other holidays with the i did. st was complete but the greek orthodox choir and a sandwhich file and i got to know the awful thoughts doubts and to give me this opportunity to purchase tickets to the students nights. it's called the preparations and were asking me if i can sing us a few songs and some intensity of the mighty and now let's say in the mob and very s

he grew up in store bought her a village in east jerusalem. i can from a betting pool or a funny idea by any member that they intend to do a year of the month i didn't have a surprise to get to that. and thus the name i did get a decision. i want to be another best on that day as usual the swan lake eyre in my ear mom i feel itchy all over my a fence so i turned to business openings first one then a second medical clinic in his village. we ate began and is that this is from a man from ceo of the topeka for the defendant to make it there. a winning time to bring that into it sounded cool to think in order and the machines when hubs to six thousand members you are new to the tv gimme the cuts in those two doors from the beginning he believes that the business to serve the community meets art that i am and it's the color and in my kitchen was and how a way to have my eight people once thought was a teen he was accepted into hebrew university but couldn't afford to go. recently he was very happy to enroll again with the promise that i want to lear

sea the deal on jewish festival of hanukkah kicked off on thursday hundreds turned out jerusalem the ceremonial liking of the menorah a giant menorah was also in berlin in front of the city's brandenburg gate. the holiday commemorates to read education of the temple in jerusalem during the revolt in one sixty five pc according to jewish belief there was only one to two flights per day. miraculously it lasted for eight. in this the blue a crime as it was good tonight star gaze is this an on pace to have been upset by it. let's encounter with the sun on thursday in the us space agency nasa released these images on the ice on disappearing behind the sun. but just failed to relax on the other side's leading scientists to believe that the two km wide some of the race and that bet the pot. the comets was the need to be for the hoffman billion years old and was discovered by a russian tennis get lost in the sun is out hoping they'll be able to study the danbury to learn more about the makeup of thinking of us its. eu summit with former soviet countries and lithuania on friday falling short

jerusalem,ir way to the gaza strip, on the west bank. friends and family gave him a hero's welcome. >> i have a feeling i cannot express. for 20 two years, my sons got married, we had holidays, but we were not happy. today this is a huge joy because of the release of my husband. released, 5 men were delivered to east jerusalem. gaza. ramallah and to the west bank, where they were greeted by president mahmoud abbas. >> this day is a happy day for all of us, for our people, for our families, and for our hero prisoners, who were freed today to live free. the freed inmates served 19-28 years for killing israeli civilians or soldiers. while they are held by palestinians as euros for fighting against the israeli occupation -- as heroes for fighting at the israeli activation, israeli families see them as murderers and protested against their release. more than 150 people marched on monday night in jerusalem bearing pictures of their relatives. the latest release of palestinian prisoners is the third of euro for such mass releases as part of the

and travel and go back. >> bethlehem lies withinside of jerusalem. it can take as long as a couple of hours to get through the checkpoints. it's under palestine administrative rule, on landoccupied by israel. unemployment is the highest in the west bank. a quarter of the population. >> it will be best if the tourists stay overnight. they don't stay. there's hope that the repairs and yun es coe decision to make this a world heritage site to bring back tourist levels. celebrations and business of celebrations are somewhat like a christmas tree surrounded by a cement wall. >> you can keep up to date with the news on the website. aljazeera.com. >>> don't give up now. there are last mief minute bargains everyone and the competition among retailers tonight is making history. >>> plus, a crucial survey for the university of michigan shows a key driver is ratcheting into high gear. >>> if you have a product idea but don't know how to build or sell it, there's a new company that wants to help and they partnered with a huge american manufacturer. i'm david sch

connor powell live in our jerusalem bureau with are more. connor? >> reporter: the u.s. may be prepared to continue enriching some uranium. that doesn't sit well with benjamin netanyahu who has long insisted that iran's nuclear program, both the military and civilian sides, be completely dismantled. he said today that denying iran a nuclear weapon is the primary challenge of this generation. netanyahu warned the international community today to be aware of tehran's intention and not to ease pressure on iran. >> israel is prepared to do what is necessary to defend itself. we share president obama's preference to see iran's nuclear weapons program and through diplomacy. but for diplomacy to succeed, it must be coupled with powerful sanctions and a credible military threat. >> now, president obama defended the international deal which many allies in the middle east area really are very nervous about, insisting his bottom line is to prevent iran from collecting a nuclear weapon and the sanctions relief will depend on iran's actions going forward and that is what has so many

it produced quite a bit of snow in jerusalem, 15 inches of snow in downtown jerusalem, and then across the gaza strip had to deal with heavy rainfall. heavy rainfall across portions of syria where the snow fell. we'll tell you more about that at the end of the show. richelle, back to you. >> thank you so much. >>> the teenager involved in the colorado school shooting planned to harm a large number of individuals. authorities say 18-year-old karl pierson had a shotgun, a machete and three molotov cocktails strapped to his body. he legally purchased the shotgun at a fellow store a week before the shooting. claire davis is in critical condition after being shot in the head. pierson would later turn the gun on himself. >> . >> pierson was likely targeting a faculty member who recently kicked him off the debate team. >>> now to the most prestigious award in college sports. florida state quarterback jameis winston is the second freshman ever to win the heisman trophy. an accusation of sexual assault by a woman casted a shadow over his career however he was cleared. >> on paper jameis winston

he's in jerusalem. >>> kathleen sebelius goes to connecticut this morning. she is set to take part in a discussion about the affordable care act and encourage people to sign up on healthcare.gov. >>> it's a dubious honor for the white house. remember this phrase uttered early and often by president obama? >> if you like your health care plan, you can keep your health care plan. >> well, that is now being called the lie of the year by the fact checking group politico onfa onfact. it writes the following. >> no response from the white house yet. >> it isn't one of those awards you want to win so don't expect a big victory speech there. >>> not so fast is the reaction to the fcc recommendation to lift cell phone bans on airplanes. several lawmakers are introducing federal legislation to address the issue. hooray! the agency has to base its decision on technical factors not public or personal opinions. >> i'm the last person in the world who wants to listen to somebody talking to me while i fly across the country, but we are the technical agency and we will make

i am going to tell you that jerusalem is already divided. jews don't go to the arab sections or very rarely go. when they go, they get stones thrown at them. so i believe that the clinton parameters are the right parameters. 1967 borders, territory swaps. >> the same equivalency. >> exactly. 1967 borders with territory swaps, dividing jerusalem and finding some arrangement so that jews can go to the holiest place in the jewish religion. jews are not allowed to go to the temple mount because the mosque is there. that is outrageous. places of worship should be open to everybody who wants to worship. but israel does not allow jews to go out of respect for the muslims. tell me another country that behaves like that. >> your argument is more with the government of israel than with the palestinians? >> not true. >> it is true. you are prepared if palestinians would accept the deal president clinton offers. the government of israel would not accept the offer president clinton offered. when he offered it, yasir arafat turned it down. some say that l

greg. >> connor powell in jerusalem. thanks. >>> want to tell you about this incredibly heartwarming story out of the flab. a player from the memphis grizzlies sharing a special moment with a special needs boy, zach randolph, known as zebo, stobed to talk to a child and when the child tugged at his warm-up shirt, he took it off and gave it to him. randolph was on fox and friends earlier today with his number one fan. >> i was trying to -- he was trying to run to the bench and his mother is like, no, you can't go over there. he broke away from her, and then the security stopped me so i had got up and shook his hand, and he was like -- he asked if he could have my shirt and i said yes, you can have my shirt. >> he got a kick out of it, he was dancing in the hallway and got a whole lot of fun around it. >> zebbo got an award before the game recognizing his contributions. >>> i'm gregg jarrett, have a great weekend. >>> tonight on huckabee. >> it is a spiral notebook and gives details and illustrations about killing a large

he started the east jerusalem is camp. a unique series of business classes for palestinian women designed to help them get the skills and encouragement to start their own small we take it down and they don't want that. they nodded and had visited him and they didn't have been a vision or if your child because they didn't have towards women was taking this course of open home based businesses such as beauty salons or home cooked food services. one woman opened fire on optician business that works closely with two outs clinics. i'm not from an all out in. but no new businesses it betty a beak and a six foot one. but it was two hundred and nine but man batsman. the stars he certainly knows from his own experience how business is rooted in the community can succeed helping all in soft and believe me if some and times you have difficult to an idea for it to your going and your puppy addition the unknown that you are a good man. there was supposed to also was hard work was recently recognized in a ceremony and reception at mount

we have a live report for you from jerusalem that is in our next half hour. >>> vice president biden trying to ease tensions between japan and incline. he is in beijing. biden telling chinese leader that america will not recognize the zone. both japan and china claim to have sovereignty over the disputed region. >>> the head of the operations says preparations are on track to start moving the deadly chemical agents but right now, a lack of security on the main road connecting damascus is causing a lot of concerns for them. if all goes as planned, the arsenal could be destroyed by the middle of next year. >>> the white house is in full holiday mode. first lady michelle obama showing off the decorations. the visitors the next two weeks will be treated to the portuguese waterdogs ornament made out of black satin ribbons. one of the real first dogs sonny got a little excited yesterday knocking down a 2-year-old girl visiting from alabama! can you believe it? this is like the biggest white house scandal? no. >> look at that! >> that is the one where it looks nice. the next one, she ends u

jerusalem is more than a place. you know, jerusalem is an idea. jerusalem is an ideal place where there are no slaves, where everybody has freedom. >> does that mean the exodus continues, we never leave egypt, so to speak? >> or even if we're lucky enough to have left egypt, has everybody left egypt? one of the great ironies of celebrating a seder now is our thoughts are often with egyptians and their struggles. ♪ >> when they were marching in tahrir square, what was great was here was freedom that was born in the soil that had come back to the soil. >> what the moses story stands for is that the power is with the powerless. ♪ >> we had no guns. we hardly had a vote. we had no money. the only power that we had was the moral high ground and god. ♪ i shall be free ♪ someday >> coming up, just minutes from now, the ten commandments. what really happened on that mountaintop? and what do you find when you climb sinai today? follow the amazing journey when "back to the beginning with christiane amanpour" returns. our career guidance system.ue it

but nothing like the snow in jerusalem. more on that in our weather repor report. >> did you just say snow in jerusalem? >>> we have more details on the school shooting in colorado on friday. eerie flashback to columbine. we know more about his arsenal, the intended target. and the heroism in the midst of this crisis. clayton sandell is in sentence l centennial, colorado. good morning. >> reporter: this entire school behind me is a crime scene. investigators working all night to find out what happened here when a gunman, a students gunman walked through the doors, making no effort to hide his shotgun. the terror began at 12:33 p.m. >> shotgun shell on the ground. assuming they have a shotgun. >> reporter: when police say 18-year-old karl piersen, a senior, walked into his school for the last time. he had one target, tracy murphy, the school librarian. >> the kid went after him, specifically. he wanted to kill him. >> reporter: murphy runs the school debate team. khtv reports that piersen was recently kicked off the team. >>

>> guest: well, that quite wittily captures the fascination of jerusalem. why jerusalem has such a magnetic draw to everyone in the world but also especially to me why i wanted to write this book. jerusalem is a lens through which you can write a history of the middle east, a history of the world almost. and the exciting thing about it, it has actually been conquered by just about every single great civilization you care to mention, you know? the asyrians, the romans, the greeks and going right up to t

and where do you come down on sharing jerusalem as a capitol. >> you're asking my person opinion. >> rose: your personal opinion. >> my right wing hawkish friends are going to be very mad with me because i'm going to tell you that jerusalem is already divided. jews don't go to the arab sections or very rarely go and when they go they get stones thrown at them. so i believe the clinton parameters are the right parameters. 67 borders. >> rose: 67 borders. >> territory swaps. >> rose: not the same borders but the same equivalency. >> exactly 67 borders with territory swaps dividing jerusalem and finding some arrangement so that jews can go to the holiest place in the jewish religion. jews are not allowed to go to the temple mount because a mosque is there. that's outrageous. places of worship should be open to everybody who wants to worship. but they do not allow jews to go out of respect for the muslims. tell me another country that behaves like that. >> but your argument is with the government of israel more than it is with the palestinians. >> not true. >> rose: it is true. >> no. >>

>> did you just say snow in jerusalem? >> there's a tease. >> yes, exactly. i'm eager to hear about that. thank you, lee. >>> we have more details on the school shooting in colorado on friday. an eerie flashback to columbine. taking place one day before the year anniversary of sandy hook. we have a picture of the young shooter now, a senior. we know more about his arsenal, the intended target. and the heroism displayed inside that school in the midst of this crisis. abc's clayton sandell is in centennial, colorado. good morning. clayton, good morning. >> reporter: good morning, dan. this entire school behind me is a crime scene. investigators working all night to find out what happened here when a gunman, a students gunman walked through the doors, making no effort to hide his shotgun. the terror began at 12:33 p.m. >> shotgun shell on the ground. assuming they have a shotgun. >> reporter: when police say 18-year-old karl pierson, a senior, walked into his school for the last time. investigators say pierson had one target, tracy murphy, the school librarian.

hundreds turned out in jerusalem for the ceremonial lighting of a menorah. a giant menorah was also lived in berlin at the brandenburg gate. the holiday commemorates the rededication of the temple and solution -- in jerusalem. police, ito jewish was only enough oil to give flight for one day but miraculously, it lasted for eight. >> a comment that would delight people -- nasa released these images of the comet disappearing behind the sun. but it failed to reemerge on the other side, leading scientists to believe the two kilometer wide chunk of ice roca part. , was the lead to be 4.5 billion years old and was discovered by a russian telescope last year. astronomers are hoping they will be able to study the debris to learn more about the makeup of the universe. >> and eu summit with former soviet countries and on friday, falling short of the goal of signing an agreement with ukraine. the president said he was unhappy with the terms and rejected the pact. eu leaders accused moscow of trying to steer ukraine's foreign policy. >> we have a partnership with russia

that is jerusalem! there is a big snowstorm stretching from cairo, egypt, all the way to jerusalem. you don't often have a snowball fight near the holy sites of jerusalem. but they were with a half foot of snowfall in jerusalem. we can't get snow. we can't get rain. all we have is dry stuff around here. kpix 5 high-def doppler radar is completely dry once again. here are the numbers. less than half inch rain in san francisco at about 5.5" for the year. the record driest year, 1976, had nearly 9" of rainfall. so it would take more than 3 " of rain to avoid the driest year. not happening. this ridge of high pressure which has been with us for months will continue to keep us dry. here's what's going to be going on. the ridge doesn't move, all the activity is on the eastern half of the country, rain and snow there. but not for us. that ridge isn't moving the next several days. what you'll get a lot of sunshine, bad air quality, but also some very mild weather for mid-december. a few more of you will hit 60s tomorrow including oakland at 62, san jose you'll hit 62. concord 59. vallejo an

. >> a significant moment here in jerusalem for the longest hunger striking palestinian prisoner also seen as a hero. he has just been released from a prison in northern israel. his nine-month hunger strike forced the israeli government to shorten his prison sentence from 17 years to only 8 months in exchange for ending his strike. >> translator: israel has tried to humiliate my people by detaining my again. i had two options, die on a hunger strike or gaining my freedom because i would not have let the occupation defeat my people. >> reporter: and he was sentenced to 26 years in prison in 2002 for what israel described as terrorist activity. but was released early in the 2011 prisoner exchange deal. it was not long before he was rearrested for what israel said was a violation of his parol term and he was sentenced for the original term and he started the hunger strike that his family says won him his freedom. it is clear that israel has anger and defeat celebrating the release with the palestinians is a message under occupation we are a free people and israel cannot take our happines

then, to jerusalem, archaeologists will show us how they tell aa fake from a find. and we'll find out why many m religious leaders are angry n about a best-selling book. they're calling it an assault on christianity's basic beliefs.rit but first, faith and facts.fa what we know about the birth of jesus, and how do we know it? ♪ the books of the old testament n or hebrew bible had been in circulation as oral history for 1,000 years before the birth of jesus. they were told to the as a whole in the second century before the christian era. in the same way, the sayings and stories of jesus were first s passed down and preserved by word of mouth. pf >> it's one of the great mysteries of church history, that we don't always know ly exactly how they spread. >> archaeologist jonathan reed and biblical scholar john dawson are co-authors of excavating jesus, and in search of paul. >> we do not know who actually wrote matthew, mark, luke and john. those are names attributed to those writings in the second century. but very, very early were written down and the sources foe th

and eventually as jerusalem and the jews know better than anyone else, they know that as well. and the question is what is the plan? >> okay, so why is there no reach? and this is the question. .. question? so let me answer. it's a very simple answer. first of all of course as you can understand i want us to reach an agreement but i think we have to reach out in a sensible realistic way. one of the problems is that the piece thinking and peace concept will not renew in 20 years. this is what i think we need fresh thinking. you will not trite to -- a 25-year-old chevy. so i think it's time to thank fresh and to describe it in just a sentence. when israelis open their hearts and decided to go to peace in 1993 the result was a waive of terror and buses exploding in central jerusalem. when israelis took a giant step forward and the peace agreement in 2000 the result was the worst suicide bombing terror offensive ever. when the israelis opened their hearts the third time and we withdrew from the gaza strip and the result was rockets coming in in southern jerusalem must awful. it is

>> according to luke, who wrote the book of acts, mary is present in the worshipping community in jerusalem following the death of jesus. and that's the last time we hear reference to her in all of the acts of the apostles. >> i like to think of her as the sort of center of such a community. they want to worship her, she says, "no, i am one of you, we are all equals." >> but as christianity started spreading, christian leaders recognized mary's appeal for potential converts among the pagans. >> if you go back and you read the prayers to the goddesses and shrines to the goddesses and the rituals of the goddesses, they were beautiful and they had to deal with healing and salvation and with comfort in all kinds of ways. and so what the bishops did, and this was done with approval, was, as they said, baptize all of that and bring it within the parameters of the christian message. and so the titles, the shrines, the iconography of the goddesses got transferred to the feminine figure in the christian tradition, connected with jesus at his birth, namely his mother. >> the vatican is the sacred hea