The Geneva Accords and the Usual Naysayers

The recent signing in Geneva of an unofficial peace settlement between former Israelis and Palestinians negotiators has created some interesting dynamics in the Middle East. The hardliners on both sides of the divide have rejected the agreement. Let us first rewind to July 2000.

At Camp David II, Ehud Barak and Yasser Arafat under the watchful and prodding eye of President Bill Clinton came very close to reaching an agreement. The main stumbling block proved to be the right of return for three million refugees in Palestinian Diaspora. Barak did not agree because doing so would have changed the demographics and the very Jewish character of his Israel. Camp David II crumbled under the weight of that one issue.

For the past three years the former Camp David negotiators, former Israeli justice minister Yossi Beilin and former Palestinian information minister Yasir Abed-Rabbo, have been meeting and negotiating in Jordan at the invitation of the Swiss government. The Geneva Accord, as the final document is called, is a far-reaching and comprehensive plan that has not left any stickling points to some future negotiations. Following are the salient features of this agreement:

1. All Jewish settlements would be removed from the West bank and Gaza except for some that are in close proximity to Israel. In exchange, Palestinians would get some areas of the Nagev desert next to the Gaza strip.

2. Palestinians would claim Arab East Jerusalem as the capital of their new state.

3. There would be clear division of sovereignty over the holy places along with some kind of international presence. Entry to holy places would be guaranteed for all.

4. The three million Palestinians would give up the right of return to Israel. A small number would be admitted to Israel at the discretion of Israeli government. The refugees would be free to settle down into the newly established Palestinian State or stay where they had been since 1948. The refugees would be compensated for the loss of their properties.

The text of the 50-page accord was mailed to each Israeli household as well as distributed in the occupied territories with Palestinian newspapers. The response has been interesting. In a survey conducted by the James A. Baker III Institute for Public Policy of Texas and International Crisis Group of Brussels, 53% Israelis and 56% Palestinians gave their support to the agreement.

The hardliners on both sides, however, are not interested in any compromises. Those on the Israelis side, mainly the Likud diehards and militant settlers, would not cede any part of the West Bank and Gaza to Palestinians. Instead they would forcefully expel all Palestinians from the occupied territories. Some members of the current Israeli government subscribe to that absurd idea of ethnic cleansing. On the other hand, there are many Palestinians who are still committed to the destruction of the state of Israel.

While the world community has welcomed the accord - there were 58 former foreign ministers and world leaders including former president Jimmy Carter at the signing ceremony - Ariel Sharon and his government have condemned the effort as subversive. It has demanded that the Secretary of State Colon Powell not meet with the negotiators as he had planned to do during his recent visit to Africa. As of this writing the meeting is still on.

Both Israelis and the Palestinians are tired of the escalating cycle of violence that has gone unabated since the Aksa intifada started two years ago. Even the Israeli armed forces are showing frustration with the deteriorating situation. The refusal of some Israeli pilots to carry out ‘illegal and immoral orders’ to attack Palestinians in occupied territories was startling. So was the scathing criticism of the government by army’s chief of staff General Moshe Ya’alon and a similar public statement by the former heads of the Israeli Secret Service.

The violence in the Middle East will not stop unless the root cause of the violence is addressed. Suicide bombers and helicopter gunships are not the solution. The only viable solution is an amicable and fair agreement that accepts and acknowledges the sufferings of both peoples, gives the Palestinians a viable state and guarantees security and survival of Israel. Whether it is the US-supported Road Map or the recently concluded Geneva Accord that leads to that destination, it matters not.