Geneva Accord points way to Arab-Israeli settlement

At a ceremony in Switzerland packed with former presidents and Nobel prize-winners, Israeli and Palestinian moderates yesterday formally launched the "Geneva Accord", a comprehensive alternative peace plan for the Middle East.

Watched over by former US President and Nobel Laureate Jimmy Carter, Israeli opposition politicians and intellectuals and Palestinian former ministers unveiled the plan, which is billed as the most detailed and far-reaching resolution to the Middle East conflict. Nelson Mandela, the former South African president, and Poland's Lech Walesa, took part in the ceremony via video link-up.

The agreement was hammered out over three years of secret negotiations and is a detailed blueprint for the withdrawal of the Israeli army from most of the occupied West Bank and Gaza Strip and the establishment of an independent Palestinian state alongside Israel. The Palestinian side agreed to largely give up the "right of return" for Palestinian refugees who fled or were forced out of what became Israel in 1948. In return, the Palestinian state was given sovereignty over the Temple Mount, or Haram al-Sharif, the Holy Land's most disputed site, and much of the rest of Jerusalem's Old City.

As if to point up the desperate need for a peace plan, while the delegates met in the winter cold of Switzerland, in the Middle East it was violence as usual. Four Palestinians were reportedly killed in an Israeli army raid into the West Bank city of Ramallah. Three appeared to be gunmen, the fourth was a six-year-old boy killed when Israeli troops fired into a crowd, according to Palestinian doctors.

The accord has been furiously rejected by the Israeli government of Ariel Sharon, and denounced by thousands of Palestinians who marched in protest through Gaza yesterday, and, as such, has little chance of being put into practice. But it has created a storm in Middle Eastern politics by showing up the failure of Mr Sharon's policies. While he has insisted there is no partner for negotiations on the Palestinian side, the authors of the accord have proved that there is by negotiating a comprehensive settlement.

In light of the failure by Mr Sharon and Yasser Arafat to offer a way out of the violence that has left more than 3,000 people dead after three years, the accord offers a concrete alternative. It has also shown up the limitations of the US-backed "road-map" peace plan. The "road-map" calls for a Palestinian state, but leaves the question of its borders to be settled at a later date. The Geneva Accord maps out definitive borders, down to the empty desert land in Israel the Palestinians agreed to accept in exchange for some Jewish settlements in the West Bank being annexed to Israel.

While Mr Sharon has failed to live up to his promise to dismantle a few illegal settlement outposts in the West Bank, the Geneva Accord calls for the evacuation of all settlements except those close to the internationally recognised Green Line border - which has enraged the Israeli right.

"There remains one basic choice for the Israelis," Mr Carter said in a speech at the Geneva ceremony yesterday. "Do we want permanent peace with all our neighbours, or do we want to retain our settlements throughout the occupied territories? And it is of equal importance that the Palestinians renounce violence against Israeli citizens in exchange for the commitments of this Geneva initiative. It is unlikely that we shall ever see a better foundation for peace. The people support it." With a subtle swipe at Mr Sharon, he added: "Political leaders are the obstacle to peace."

Fifty-eight former presidents, prime ministers, foreign ministers and other leaders, including former Soviet President Mikhail Gorbachev, South Africa's FW de Klerk, and Mexico's Ernesto Zedillo, released a statement yesterday expressing their "strong support" for the accord.

"The Israeli-Palestinian conflict has taken far too great a toll already," said the statement. The ceremony was lent a veneer of Hollywood glamour by actor Richard Dreyfuss, who acted as master of ceremonies. "Peace is far too serious to be left exclusively to governments," said Mr Dreyfuss. "People are terrified of the world they seem to be leaving to their children." He said the accord was "the people's claim to their place at the table".

That claim has not been borne out in Israel, where a poll by Ha'aretz found that 38 per cent of Israelis are against the accord, and only 31 per cent support it. However, those figures represent a major swing towards the peace plan since it was unveiled in October, when 54 per cent were against and only 25 per cent in favour.

The debate in Israel has been extraordinarily heated. Mr Sharon's supporters accuse the plan's Israeli authors of being traitors for taking part in unofficial talks with "the enemy". One of Mr Sharon's advisers, Ra'anan Gissin, said yesterday: "Creating the impression that this is some sort of alternative ... causes some damage to Israel and is just a repetition of mistakes." Isy Levy-Mazloum, a representative of Mr Sharon's Likud Party, said: "Far from bringing peace, this initiative will simply make discussions between the Israeli government and Palestinian Authority more difficult." He said the agreement "flouts the rights of the Jewish people".

Among Palestinians, the debate has been even more charged. Four of the Palestinian delegates who were at the ceremony yesterday, including two cabinet ministers, nearly cancelled their flight and stayed at home at the last minute, after receiving threats. They only agreed to go after Mr Arafat said they were travelling with his approval, and sent his chief security adviser, Jibril Rajub, with them.

Mr Arafat and the Palestinian Authority have stopped short of endorsing the accord, but they have said they welcome the initiative. But many Palestinians are enraged by the Palestinian negotiators agreeing to drop the right of return. Shots were fired at the house of the main Palestinian author of the plan, Yasser Abed Rabbo, in Ramallah, and delegates on their way to Switzerland were jostled by angry crowds as they tried to leave the Gaza Strip.

NEW DEAL TO END CONFLICT IN THE OCCUPIED TERRITORIES

* The Israeli army would withdraw from all of the Gaza Strip and most of the West Bank. Most Jewish settlements would be dismantled and evacuated

* An independent Palestinian state would be set up in the West Bank and Gaza Strip. It would be demilitarised, but would control its own borders

* The Palestinians would forego the "right of return" for Palestinians who fled or were forced out in 1948 of what is now Israel. A small number would be allowed to return. Others would be settled either in the Palestinian state or third countries

* Jerusalem would be divided in sovereignty. East Jerusalem would be the capital of the Palestinian state and West Jerusalem remaining the capital of Israel. Some settlements in East Jerusalem would remain under Israeli sovereignty

* The Temple Mount, or Haram al-Sharif, would be under Palestinian sovereignty

* Much of Jerusalem's Old City would be under Palestinian sovereignty, but the Western Wall and the Jewish quarter would remain under Israeli sovereignty

* Some settlement blocs in the West Bank adjacent to the Green Line border would be annexed to Israel. The Palestinian state would receive land in the desert near Gaza in exchange

* Amultinational force would oversee implementation of the peace plan

* The Palestinians would recognise Israel's existence and right to live in peace, and Israel would recognise the Palestinian state in the same way

* The Accord would be a final and permanent peace settlement, resolving all existing UN resolutions