Mideast Activists Launch Peace 'Accord'

Monday, December 1, 2003
(5:35 PM ET)
By Ravi Nessman

Associated Press Writer

"After the celebration comes the real work."

-- Yasser Abed Rabbo, leader of the Palestinian delegation.

Former Palestinian minister and chief of the Palestinian delegation, Yasser Abed Rabbo, right, speaks, while former Israeli Justice Minister and chief of Israelian delegation, Yossi Beilin, left, looks on, during the signing ceremony for the Geneva Accord in Geneva, Switzerland, Monday, Dec. 1, 2003. The Geneva Accord was brokered by Israeli and Palestinian opposition groups after two years of secret negotiations. The accord covers many divisive issues between Israelis and Palestinians.

Image Credit: Sandro Campardo -- AP/Keystone

GENEVA -- AP
Hundreds of Israelis and Palestinians joined Nobel Peace Prize winners Monday for a ceremony filled with song and hope, celebrating an unofficial peace accord intended to guide their peoples out of conflict.

The "Geneva accord," negotiated over almost three years by former Israeli and Palestinian officials, tackles the issues that have torpedoed other peace efforts: the fate of Israeli settlements, the borders of a Palestinian state, the status of Jerusalem and Palestinian refugees.

"The alternative, and the only alternative, to this initiative is sustained and permanent violence," former President Jimmy Carter told the conference. "It is unlikely that we shall ever see a more promising foundation for peace."

Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat sent a message calling the accord "a brave and courageous initiative ... that opens the door to peace." However, he did not explicitly endorse the agreement, which has been opposed by Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon and condemned by Palestinian militants.

The agreement envisions a Palestinian state based roughly on the borders before the 1967 Mideast war. Most Israeli settlements in the West Bank and Gaza Strip would be dismantled. It divides sovereignty in Jerusalem, but avoids a large-scale return to Israel by Palestinians who fled or were driven out in the 1948-49 war that followed Israel's creation.

"(It's) a clenched-teeth compromise with painful concessions on both sides," said Israeli author Amos Oz, who was a part of the talks.
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2003 © The Associated Press.

On the Net:

* The Geneva Initiative website
* The Carter Center

Dan