Mideast peace plan wins praise

2003-11-07 21:09

West Bank - An informal Mideast peace plan drafted by prominent Israelis and Palestinians got a significant boost on Friday, with a letter of support from US Secretary of State Colin Powell, organisers said.

Powell's praise for the "Geneva Accord" could be seen as a veiled rebuke to the Israeli government of Ariel Sharon who has attacked the plan as subversive.

Powell's letter was addressed to the leaders of the initiative, former Israeli 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 Mideast 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 US Embassy spokesperson, 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.

- AP