Informal Peace Plan for Mideast Is Unveiled in Geneva (Must-See Quote!)

GENEVA, Dec. 1 — To prove that Middle East peacemaking is possible, self-appointed Israeli and Palestinian negotiators came together here today to sign a sweeping shadow agreement that calls for creation of a Palestinian state and provides a mechanism for resolving the status of Israeli settlements, Palestinian refugees and the city of Jerusalem.

The unreality of the event was overshadowed by the painful pleas from the Israeli and Palestinian negotiators to their leaders to talk to each other once again about a permanent solution.

"The document is virtual, but all of us are real, and our heartbeats are real," the head of the Israeli side, Yossi Beilin, who served as justice minister in a Labor government, said in a speech to an audience that included more than 300 Israelis and Palestinians. "We are saying to the world: `Don't believe those who tell you that our conflict is unsolvable. Don't try to help us manage the conflict. Help us to end it.' "

His message of urgency was echoed in the words of his Palestinian negotiating partner, Yasir Abed Rabbo, a former Palestinian information minister. "Our critics say that officials should make such agreements, not representatives of civil society," Mr. Abed Rabbo said. "We could not agree more. But what can we do if officials do not meet, if governments do not negotiate? We can't wait and watch as the future of our two nations slides deeper into catastrophe."

Negotiated in secret for two-and-a-half years, the 50-page accord — with detailed maps — would give the Palestinians a nonmilitarized state in the West Bank and Gaza in return for peace with Israel. Palestinians would also receive the Arab neighborhoods of East Jerusalem and sovereignty over the Aqsa Mosque, Islam's third-holiest site, under a permanent international security force, with full Jewish access.

The Israelis, in return for an equivalent amount of land from Israel, would keep most settlements in the West Bank, including virtually all the new Jewish neighborhoods in Jerusalem built on the Arab side of the city. All Palestinian refugees would receive compensation, but only about 30,000 would be allowed to return to their homes in Israel proper.

Historically, peace agreements in the Middle East are reached in secret by the most senior of officials. This freelance accord has no official backing from either the Israeli government or the Palestinian Authority, although in a statement read today on his behalf, the Palestinian leader Yasir Arafat praised it as "a brave initiative that opens the door to hope."

There were few illusions that Prime Minister Ariel Sharon of Israel, who has denounced the exercise as treason, would suddenly embrace it.

There has been a virtual absence of peace talks between Israelis and Palestinians on a permanent solution since the start of the most recent Palestinian uprising, in September 2000. Since then, more than 2,200 Palestinians and more than 800 Israelis have been killed.

Among those bearing witness to the unofficial process here today were three recipients of the Nobel Peace Prize, including former President Jimmy Carter; three United States congressmen; and several former French cabinet ministers, including Simone Veil, who survived a Nazi death camp.

"It is unlikely we will ever see a more promising foundation for peace," Mr. Carter said in a speech, adding that while there would be inevitable changes, should the official peace process begin anew, "the basic premises must remain intact."

Lech Walesa, the Polish welder who was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize for leading Poland's anti-Communist Solidarity movement in the 1980's, told the two sides, "I am going to be with you here in solidarity."

Former President Nelson Mandela of South Africa made a virtual appearance on a videotape shown on a vast screen to the 1,100 participants, guests and journalists here. Prime Minister Tony Blair of Britain, President Jacques Chirac of France, King Mohamad VI of Morocco, President Hosni Mubarak of Egypt and former President Bill Clinton were among those who sent messages of support, which were read aloud. Fifty-eight former world leaders also signed a statement of support.

The Bush administration was not among the governments sending a message of support, though a low-level representative was present today and Secretary of State Colin L. Powell had previously sent negotiators a letter of encouragement.

There, in 1979, Mr. Carter brought together Prime Minister Menachem Begin of Israel and President Anwar Sadat of Egypt to celebrate the Camp David accords and the signing of a historic peace treaty between the two countries.

There, a decade ago, Prime Minister Yitzhak Rabin of Israel and Mr. Arafat awkwardly shook hands and sealed the first agreement between Jews and Palestinians to end their conflict and share the space they both call home.

This time, the "Geneva Accord," as the virtual peace agreement is being called, was celebrated in a sterile conference hall not far from the Geneva airport.

The official host was not an American president but the Swiss government, which underwrote today's $542,000 event with substantial help from private donors. And the official "master of ceremonies" was the actor and peace activist Richard Dreyfuss.

Nearly 90 minutes into the solemn event, Mr. Dreyfuss tried to inject a bit of Hollywood humor, joking, "As they say in the Academy Awards, we are in the home stretch and I am the winner." His remarks were lost on the audience.

The United States, whose involvement is crucial for any meaningful peace agreement in the Middle East, was represented by an unidentified junior member of the political section of the United States mission in Geneva.

Secretary Powell had been invited but declined. Negotiators said that they hoped to meet Mr. Powell on Friday in Washington.

"This shows what people who truly want peace on their own can do," said Representative Nick J. Rahall, a West Virginia Democrat of Lebanese ancestry, who was present at the White House for both the Camp David accords in 1979 and the 1993 Israeli-Palestinian accord. "It's a shame when governments get in the way," he said.

The other American lawmakers were Representatives Daryl Issa, a California Republican, and Lois Capps, a California Democrat.

The event dispelled the myth that there is no one to talk to about peace and exposed the absence of an active, visible, high-level diplomatic strategy in Washington, which has embraced the internationally backed "road map" for peace but done little to promote it.

Mr. Carter, when asked in an interview whether the absence of progress so many years after Camp David was bittersweet for him, replied, "It's not bittersweet, just sweet."

But then his frustration over twists in history and missed opportunities spilled out. "The bitterness comes from the fact that the top leaders have not been willing to move with this degree of effort," he said.

Mr. Carter, defeated in his quest for re-election by Ronald Reagan in 1980, speculated that "had I been elected to a second term, with the prestige and authority and influence and reputation I had in the region, we could have moved to a final solution."

we could have moved to a final solution

Yikes! Nice choice of words there, Herr Jimmy.

And the libs have the nerve to call Bush a moron.

Of course the dems/libs had to do this. Bush has stolen everything else. This is nothing more than an attempt to make Bush look bad (so what else is new).

If these people succeed in getting any results between Israel and Palentine, then they will be able to say Bush's plan was not any good and Bush favored Israel too much.

Do these people realize that if Israel had not taken out the nuke plant in Iraq .. Palestine could have been a parking lot ..?? Talk about being ungrateful!

How desperately pathetic can they get ..??

A different thread that I saw earlier today introduced the philosophical concept of "moral Carterism", an automatic, nonjudgemental moral equivalency assigned in every dispute, regardless of the true moral issues involved or any past actions by involved parties that have established a moral position.

It is a profound concept, and a well earned imprimatur by the peanut man.

Yikes! Nice choice of words there, Herr Jimmy.

Jimmy is a model of consistancy.

Cyrus Vance…confirmed to then-New York mayor Ed Koch that Carter, if reelected, would "sell out" the Jews
Jimmy Carter shortly before the 1980 election

…at a March 1980 meeting with his senior political advisers, angrily snapped, "If I get back in, I`m going to f--- the Jews."
Jimmy Carter, March 1980

…had I been elected to a second term, with the prestige and authority and influence and reputation I had in the region, we could have moved to a final solution
Jimmy Carter, 12-1-2003

Another Carterism

"I have never met an Arab leader that in private professed a desire for an independent Palestinian state. Publicly, they all espouse an independent Palestinian state -- almost all of them -- because that is what they committed themselves to do at Rabat (the 1974 Arab League summit conference)."

--President Jimmy Carter
a 1979 press conference

I'ts chilling how they fit together.

Cyrus Vance…confirmed to then-New York mayor Ed Koch that Carter, if reelected, would "sell out" the Jews
Jimmy Carter shortly before the 1980 election

…at a March 1980 meeting with his senior political advisers, angrily snapped, "If I get back in, I`m going to f--- the Jews."
Jimmy Carter, March 1980

"I have never met an Arab leader that in private professed a desire for an independent Palestinian state. Publicly, they all espouse an independent Palestinian state -- almost all of them -- because that is what they committed themselves to do at Rabat (the 1974 Arab League summit conference)."
--President Jimmy Carter
a 1979 press conference

…had I been elected to a second term, with the prestige and authority and influence and reputation I had in the region, we could have moved to a final solution
Jimmy Carter, 12-1-2003

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