Posted on 11/07/2003 10:26:04 AM PST by yonif
The Geneva Accord peace plan got a significant boost Friday, with a letter of support from U.S. Secretary of State Colin Powell, organizers said.
Washington's backing of the Geneva Accord could be seen as a veiled rebuke to the Israeli government of Prime Minister Ariel Sharon who has attacked the plan as subversive.
Powell's letter was addressed to the leaders of the initiative, former Justice Minister Yossi Beilin and former Palestinian Information Minister Yasser Abed Rabbo, the two told a news conference.
"Dear Yossi and Yasser," the letter read, according to a Beilin aide. "The president remains committed a two state solution ... but we also believe that projects such as yours are important for sustaining hope and understanding."
The Geneva plan proposes a Palestinian state on nearly all the land Israel captured in the 1967 Six Day War. It would also give Palestinians control of a disputed Jerusalem holy shrine, known to Muslims as the Haram as-Sharif and to Jews as the Temple Mount.
In return, Palestinians would give up their demand for the "right of return" of about four million Palestinian war refugees and their descendants to Israel.
Paul Patin, a U.S. Embassy spokesman, said the United States remains committed to the road map peace plan, which envisions a Palestinian state by 2005, but does not draw borders. Israelis and Palestinians are deadlocked over implementation of that plan.
Patin said Powell's letter was meant to show support for the Geneva Accord, but was not an official endorsement.
An Israeli official dismissed the Powell letter as unlikely to have an impact on the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.
"They can compliment and praise all they want, but from compliments no real progress has been made," the official said on condition of anonymity.
The plan is being sponsored by Switzerland and is to be officially launched in Geneva, although a date has yet to be decided. Abed Rabbo said it should be a matter of weeks.
On Wednesday, the plan got the blessing of United Nations Secretary-General Kofi Annan who called it a "courageous" attempt to break the stalemate on both sides.
U.S. Deputy Defense Secretary Paul Wolfowitz - the Pentagon's No. 2 official - last week praised another unofficial peace plan drawn up by a prominent Palestinian moderate and the former head of Israel's secret service.
Ami Ayalon and Sari Nusseibeh say they have collected 100,000 Israeli and 60,000 Palestinian signatures in three months.
Their petition calls for Israel to withdraw to the borders it had before the 1967 war, when it captured the West Bank and Gaza Strip. The document calls for a demilitarized Palestinian state in those territories.
In a lecture at Georgetown University, Wolfowitz said the petition's principles "look very much like" the Bush administration's road map to a peaceful, two-state solution.
In Friday's news conference, authors of the Geneva plan said they were not trying to usurp the authority of their respective governments but to mobilize public opinion as a tool for change.
"We are not taking away the role of anybody," Abed Rabbo said. "We are sending a message to the governments of both sides and to the governments of the world to start official negotiations because there is no alternative to official negotiations."
Isn't undermining the Israeli government fun?
Blah, blah, blah. .......Can we just get on with the invasion of Syria already?
Powell is a skunk.
Apparantly if you are Colin Powell it is. He has made many statements which I have found worrisome at best.
Also, I don't think the Geneva Accord is the same as the Roadmap. The Roadmap did not divide Jerusalem, surrender the Temple Mount, uproot Efrat and Ariel, or say that the Palestinians should refrain from smuggling in arms for five and a half years and after that it would be just fine. The Geneva Accord is far more dangerous than the Roadmap because it spells out specific concessions before the Palestinians even think about slowing attacks on Israelis.
The Geneva plan proposes a Palestinian state on nearly all the land Israel captured in the 1967 Six Day War…In return, Palestinians would give up their demand for the "right of return" of about four million Palestinian war refugees and their descendants to Israel.
Needless to say Powell hasn’t read the PA’s commentary on the “Swiss plan”
Their [another] petition calls for Israel to withdraw to the borders it had before the 1967 war…In a lecture at Georgetown University, Wolfowitz said the petition's principles "look very much like" the Bush administration's road map
Needless to say, Wolfie never read the road map.
Israel, of course, isn’t a party to either of these “plans”, apparently not an impedement.
The only explanation I can think of is that a plan is being hatched to sell out Israel in hopes of tempering terror in Iraq. Give the terrorists a victory, maybe they’ll leave us alone.
No way ......this administration is no where near naive enough to believe that.
You're right. Apparently some "conservatives" some conservatives wouldn't vote for him either, even if he was a Republican.
Many Americans would rightly so call into question most Jews' loyalty to America versus Israel. Of the 3 major religions from that region, only Christians have shown that they can put the interests of America above those of other nations.
I'm open to other explanations. Unfortunately the only other reason I can think of for attempting to ram an agreement down Israel's throat which Israel isn't supportive of or party to is that GWB, in his third year, still hasn't got State under control.
Either way, this is a major victory for terror.
Just a guess.
Neither has he realized yet what it costs to go to bed with the devil - your soul.
IMO, the proper response, and the one I'd expect from GWB himself, is what's he's been saying all along, that he's committed to the road map, that's the binding document, and call him when someone in the PA is ready to fight terror. Powell and Wolfowitz are sending a message of weakness and confusion.
BTW, the palestinians won't have any problem complying with the The Geneva Accord
Essentially, Israel move a quarter of a million or so Jews out of the territories and takes over.
I wish you were right. I fear, though, that the President is hopelessly naive when it comes to the Middle East and Islam, or is at least taking the advice of hopelessly naive advisors over those with a clue.
The only explanation I can think of is that a plan is being hatched to sell out Israel in hopes of tempering terror in Iraq.
I remember the first spat between President Bush and Prime Minister Sharon early in both men's terms when the Prime Minister reminded the President (to great consternation in Washington) that Israel is not going to be like Czechoslovakia in 1938. I fear someone needs to remind Mr. Powell and the President of that.
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