Blair welcomes "Geneva Accord"

Prime Minister Tony Blair said Thursday he hoped that an informal Mideast peace plan reached by former Israeli and Palestinian negotiators would stimulate debate and complement the U.S.-backed roadmap.

The "Geneva Accord," which has no formal standing, proposes a Palestinian state formed on nearly all the land Israel captured in the Six Day War.

The Israeli government led by Prime Minister Ariel Sharon has condemned the unofficial negotiations and launched an effort to discourage foreign support for the agreement.

But in a statement released by his office Thursday, Blair said "imaginative thinking" could complement the U.S.-backed roadmap that also envisions a Palestinian state but does not lay out its final borders. The United Nations, Russia and the European Union are co-sponsors of the plan.

"At this time both peoples need hope," said Blair. "This initiative gives them a chance to look beyond current difficulties to what might be achievable with goodwill on both sides."

Blair said it was not for Britain to comment on the details of the Geneva Accord. But he said he hoped it would "stimulate debate, remind people of why peace is worth working for, show that Israelis and Palestinians remain capable of finding partners for peace and working together and encourage them back to the negotiating table."

"The roadmap never described a settlement, just how to get there. So imaginative thinking about the endgame doesn't cut across it, it complements it," Blair added.

The Geneva Accords envision a Palestinian state in 98 percent of the West Bank and all of the Gaza Strip, lands Israel occupied in the 1967 Middle East war. It also would give Palestinians control of Jerusalem's Temple Mount, where Judaism's ancient Temples stood.

In return, Palestinians would give up their demand that hundreds of thousands of refugees be allowed to return to Israel.

Israeli and Palestinian negotiators hope to sign the agreement in Geneva on Nov. 4, the eighth anniversary of the assassination of Israeli Prime Minister Yitzhak Rabin by an extremist Jew who opposed his peace moves.

Blair stressed that tackling security remained "the essential first step toward this or any other settlement."

Blair welcomes gradual destruction of Israel rather than immediate destruction by military means.

Another "Oslo." Can a second Clinton Administration be that far behind?

2 posted on 10/30/2003 2:52:36 PM PST by My2Cents ("Bush reminds me of Churchill...." -- Sen. Zell Miller, D-Georgia)

Geneva is far, far worse than Oslo. Search on "Geneva insanity" and read some of the analyses of Yossi Beilin's suicide pact for Israel.

3 posted on 10/30/2003 2:58:40 PM PST by anotherview ("Ignorance is the choice not to know" -Klaus Schulze)

The "Geneva Accord" is being negotiated by people who were deposed in the last election. They don't represent Israel. It's being funded by the NeoNazi EU and it's analogous to Failed presidential candidate Al Gore negotiating a settlement with Osama Bin Laden to give him 30-40 States and all the infrastructure and assets contained therein.

4 posted on 10/30/2003 7:43:28 PM PST by jonatron (If you'd like this message in English, press One. For Spanish, please hang up and go back to Mexico)

Geneva Accord is completely non-descriptive. I prefer to call it the Traitors' Treaty.

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