Sharon buries a stillborn peace plan

By JUSTIN HUGGLER in Jerusalem

Israeli opposition politicians and intellectuals and Palestinian former ministers have united to propose a comprehensive new peace plan to put an end to years of bloodshed and occupation.

The proposals, a first draft of which was completed in secrecy in Jordan last weekend, are being put forward by their authors to prove there is an alternative to continuing the slaughter of the past three years.

Although the Geneva Accords, as the new proposals have become known, have been rejected out of hand by Ariel Sharon's Israeli Government, there are hopes they can revitalise the debate in the Middle East.

They represent the first time in three years of suicide bombings, ambushes, assassinations and curfews, that senior figures from both sides have come forward to say there is another way.

Under the proposals, drawn up after 2 1/2 years of clandestine negotiations, the Palestinians would, for the first time, give up the right of return for refugees who fled or were forced out of what is now Israel in 1948.

In exchange, a new Palestinian state would have sovereignty over one of the most fought-over sites in the world: the Haram al-Sharif, or Temple Mount, sacred to both Jews and Muslims.

Israel would withdraw from almost all of the occupied West Bank and Gaza Strip, which would become a new Palestinian state. Scores of Jewish settlements in the occupied territories, long among the biggest obstacles to peace, would simply be dismantled, their occupants evacuated to Israel.

Jerusalem would be divided - legally, but not physically. Arab East Jerusalem would become part of the Palestinian state, except for Jewish neighbourhoods which have been built in recent years which, with West Jerusalem, would be part of Israel.

The Old City would be under Palestinian sovereignty, except for the Western Wall, Judaism's most revered site, which would remain under Israeli control.

The Temple Mount would be patrolled by an international force which would ensure access for visitors of all faiths, but Jewish prayer would not be permitted.

None of this is about to happen. The Palestinian President, Yasser Arafat, and the new Palestinian Prime Minister, Ahmed Qureia, have given it their blessing, and one of the plan's Palestinian backers claimed the Palestinian Authority had endorsed it. But the Israeli Government of Ariel Sharon has dismissed the proposals. "This agreement promises only false hope," Sharon said. "By what right are left-wing people proposing moves that Israel can never do, nor will ever do?"

Supporters of the Geneva Accords believe it to be a genuine and implementable peace deal. "A hundred years of violence could end if the leaders of both sides decide to adopt the agreement we have reached," the deal's authors said in a statement.

A first draft of the new accords, which have been formulated in a series of secret meetings between the Israeli and Palestinian sides during the past two years that were financed by the Swiss Government, were agreed in the Jordanian capital Amman, after three days of talks. Their authors plan to sign them at a ceremony in Switzerland next month, to which they will invite former United States President Bill Clinton.

The new plan is the brainchild of Yossi Beilin, a left-wing former Israeli minister, and Yasser Abed Rabbo, a former Palestinian minister. Also involved in the discussions on the Israeli side have been the Israeli novelist Amos Oz, the former leader of Israel's Labour Party, Amram Mitzna, and members of the Israeli negotiating team during Clinton's failed attempt to get a peace deal under the Oslo accords at Camp David.

On the Palestinian side, two other former ministers, Nabil Kassem and Hisham Abdul Raz, were involved. Marwan Barghouti, once widely seen as a successor to Arafat but now in an Israeli prison facing trial, is believed to have been consulted.

Although the agreement has little chance of being implemented, it will have an effect. One of the central tenets of Sharon's three years in power has been that there is no viable partner on the Palestinian side to make peace with.

One of the plan's key Israeli supporters, opposition MP Avraham Burg, said: "It now turns out, that after two years of vigorous labour, that there is someone to talk to and something to talk about."

Moreover, by signalling for the first time a willingness to compromise on the right of return, the Palestinians have shown that there is something for Israelis to gain out of a peace deal.

The new political activity comes at a bad time for Sharon. In recent months his approval ratings have been slipping, and Israelis have been complaining that he has failed to deliver on his promise of security.

However, Sharon and his Likud Government remain far more popular among Israelis than the left - and Government ministers laid into the plan.

"I cannot understand where Beilin and his friends, whom the public banished from rule twice, got the nerve to act behind the Government's back during a war," said one minister, Uzi Landau. "Can you imagine even one American who would try to reach an agreement with Saddam Hussein or bin Laden behind Bush's back?"

Unofficial peace deal

* The Palestinians will concede the right of refugee return.

* The Palestinians will recognise Israel as the state of the Jewish people.

* Israel will withdraw to the 1967 borders, except for certain territorial exchanges.

* Jerusalem will be divided, with Arab neighbourhoods of East Jerusalem becoming part of the Palestinian state. Jewish neighbourhoods of East Jerusalem will be part of Israel.

* The Temple Mount will be Palestinian, but an international force will ensure freedom of access for visitors of all faiths.

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