The Guardian, A radical Middle East peace initiative drafted by teams of unofficial Israeli and Palestinian negotiators won significant international support yesterday as more than 300 dignitaries gathered in Geneva to promote the plan.
The ceremony coincided with the launch of operations by the Israeli army in West Bank cities which left at least four dead and several injured. The actions in Ramallah and Tulkarem came despite a two-month break in suicide attacks in Israel, the longest in more than a year. The dead included three members of Hamas and a nine-year old boy.
The architects of the prototype peace plan, the Geneva accord, claim that it demonstrates that a peace agreement between the Israelis and Palestinians is possible, if only the political leadership of both communities desire it.
At the ceremony yesterday, the former US president Jimmy Carter said: “The people support it. Political leaders are the obstacle to peace… it is unlikely we shall ever see a better foundation for peace.”
The former Soviet leader Mikhail Gorbachev was among 58 former prime ministers, presidents, foreign secretaries and other leaders to offer support in a jointly published letter.
The Geneva accord was formulated by teams of Israelis and Palestinians, led by Yossi Beilin, a member of Meretz, a leftwing Israeli party, and an architect of the Oslo agreements which led to the formation of the Palestinian Authority, and Yasser Abed Rabbo, an ally of Yasser Arafat, the chairman of the Palestinian Authority.
Mr Beilin and his team have been rejected by the Israeli government, some of whom have accused them of treason. Mr Abed Rabbo has been given a lukewarm endorsement by Mr Arafat although many Palestinians have also accused him of treason.
The main points of the Geneva accord include a division of Jerusalem along religious and cultural lines, a mutual recognition of statehood, Israel to return to its 1967 borders except in areas where a territorial exchange has been agreed and Israel to accept a limited number of Palestinian refugees and pay compensation to the rest.
A poll in the Israeli daily Haaretz found that more than 31% of Israelis supported the accords while 37% were against them.
The accords expose major divisions in both communities that remain unresolved. Palestinians are divided between those who desire a sovereign state and those who want to return to properties left behind in 1948.
Among the Israelis, the divide is between those who want Israel to revert to its 1967 dimensions and those who believe in a greater Israel.
