Date:03/11/2003 URL: http://www.thehindu.com/2003/11/03/stories/2003110300171400.htm

International

New plan to end W. Asia conflict

By Atul Aneja

MANAMA Nov. 2. Unfazed by the disruption in the official peace talks process, a group of Israeli Leftist activists and senior Palestinian leaders are set to unveil an alternative plan next week to resolve the Israel-Palestinian dispute. The 50-page document, whose principle authors are the former Israeli Labour Minister, Yossi Beilin, and the former Palestinian Minister, Abed Rabbo, will be released in Geneva on November 4. The draft appears to have the backing of key European countries.

Others who have helped draft the proposals, are Amran Mitzna, Labour Party member of the Israeli Parliament, and Amoz Oz, Israeli author and founder of the Peace Now movement.

Mr. Mitzna has called the draft a cocktail of the talks held hitherto. It is therefore expected to encompass the agreements of Oslo, Camp David, Taba and the existing roadmap.

Israel has already rejected the initiative, as have the extremist Palestinian groups — Hamas and the Islamic Jehad. The proposals have apparently addressed all the hard questions that have come in the way of a peace settlement. They include the final status of Jerusalem, the return of Palestinian refugees and security arrangements.

The agreement therefore contains a complete map of a Palestine, where an independent Palestinian State will comprise almost the land captured by Israel in the 1967 Arab-Israeli war. It also envisages division of Jerusalem where the Arab neighbourhoods of East Jerusalem will become part of the Palestinian state, while the Jewish neighbourhoods will become part of the Israeli state. Besides, the Palestinian Authority will have sovereignty over the Dome of the Rock, a Jerusalem shrine, considered the third holiest site in Islam while the neighbouring Western wall, which is of great spiritual importance to the Jews, will belong to Israel. International forces will monitor the sites.

Palestinian refugees, it is proposed, will choose whether to move to the Palestinian state, remain in countries where they live or move to Israel, but only with Israel's consent.

The former Prime Minister, Shimon Peres, said the "Geneva initiative" could serve as a basis for talks, while the Palestinian Foreign Minister, Nabil Shaath, said that he favoured "any dialogue that leads to peace".

The Egyptian Foreign Minister, Ahmed Meher, said earlier this week that the blueprint, which could be the "light at the end of the tunnel", should be given a chance. The U.S. dismissed the plan, but the British Prime Minister, Tony Blair, described it as, "a chance to look beyond current difficulties" .

France also reacted positively describing the proposals as a "beacon for the future since it tries to take to the end what could be a real peace process".