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		</div><p>The increase of Israeli settlements has &#8220;gotten so substantial&#8221; that it is inhibiting the possibility for an &#8220;effective, contiguous Palestinian state&#8221;, Barack Obama has said in his final interview as US president.</p>
<p>Speaking to CBS&#8217; 60 Minutes, Mr Obama dismissed the idea that there was a &#8220;major rupture&#8221; in the relationship between the United States and Israel after last month&#8217;s decision by the US to abstain from a United Nations vote condemning Israeli settlements.</p>
<p>&#8220;Because of our investment in the region, and because we care so deeply about Israel, I think (the US) has a legitimate interest in saying to a friend, &#8216;This is a problem&#8217;,&#8221; he said.<br />
&#8220;It would have long-term consequences for peace and security in the region, and the United States.&#8221;<br />
The outgoing president reflected on his legacy and his biggest challenges during his eight years in office during the hour-long interview.</p>
<p>A number of his policies, from health care to his contentious relationship with Israel, could be short-lived as president-elect Donald Trump becomes the 45th president later this week and vows to reverse some of them.</p>
<p>Mr Trump has been vocal about his disapproval of many of Mr Obama&#8217;s policies, often voicing his disagreement or engaging in public disputes with the president on Twitter.</p>
<p>Most recently, Mr Trump lashed out over hypothetical comments Mr Obama made that he would beat Mr Trump if they ran against each other in a general election.</p>
<p>During the festive holiday, Mr Trump accused Mr Obama of throwing up &#8220;inflammatory&#8221; road blocks during the transition of power and his administration of treating Israel with &#8220;total disdain&#8221;.</p>
<p>Mr Obama acknowledged ii had been an &#8220;unusual&#8221; transition, adding: &#8220;I suspect the president-elect would agree with that.</p>
<p>&#8220;We are moving into an era where a lot of people get their information through tweets and soundbites and some headline that comes over their phone.</p>
<p>&#8220;There&#8217;s a power in that. There&#8217;s also a danger &#8211; what generates a headline or stirs up a controversy and gets attention isn&#8217;t the same as the process required to actually solve the problem.&#8221;</p>
<p>Mr Obama warned people not to &#8220;underestimate the guy&#8221; and urged congressional Republicans and Trump supporters around the country to be sure &#8220;that as we go forward, certain norms, certain institutional traditions don&#8217;t get eroded, because there&#8217;s a reason they&#8217;re in place&#8221;.</p>
<p>He said there needs to be a focus on &#8220;making sure that our democracy stays healthy, and making sure that we maintain that sense of solidarity&#8221;.</p>
<p>With that, he said he had been &#8220;disturbed&#8221; about intelligence reports over Russia hacking the US election.<br />
&#8220;I have been concerned about the degree to which, in some circles, you&#8217;ve seen people suggest that Vladimir Putin has more credibility than the US government,&#8221; he said.</p>
<p>&#8220;You&#8217;re not going to be able to make good decisions without building some relationship of trust between yourself and that community.&#8221;</p>
<p>Mr Obama also reflected on his approach to the civil war in Syria, as it approaches its sixth year with hundreds of thousands dead and millions displaced around the world.</p>
<p>The president acknowledged that his &#8220;red line&#8221; declaration about the use of chemical weapons by Syrian president Bashar Assad&#8217;s government was not in his 2012 speech and that he did not have to use those words.<br />
They later prompted harsh criticism, since the US did not follow through on the threat.</p>
<p>&#8220;I would have, I think, made a bigger mistake if I had said, &#8216;Eh, chemical weapons. That doesn&#8217;t really change my calculus&#8217;,&#8221; he said.</p>
<p>&#8220;And regardless of how it ended up playing, I think, in the Beltway, what is true is Assad got rid of his chemical weapons.&#8221;</p>
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