Jews and Arabs study Geneva plan (Al-Jazeera)

[IndianaGreen]

Jews and Arabs study Geneva plan

Sunday 16 November 2003, 16:33 Makka Time, 13:33 GMT

Israelis and Palestinians have been poring over the text of an alternative Middle East blueprint after copies were posted to households and the document was published in Sunday newspapers.

Former Justice Minister Yossi Beilin, the driving force behind the so-called Geneva Initiative on the Israeli side, tried to hand over a copy at Prime Minister Ariel Sharon's residence.

But officials said they could not accept the text, as the proper procedures for delivering documents to the premier had not been followed.

Sharon has poured scorn on the agreement drawn up by opposition politicians and leading Palestinian figures, calling it an illusion and insisting the internationally backed "road map" for peace is the only way to secure calm in the region.

http://english.aljazeera.net/NR/exeres/EB912282-7EFA-4F5F-A827-8149157151A8.htm

[Jack Rabbit]

1. Yossi Beilin

From the Israeli Ministry of Foeign Affairs

Dr. Yossi Beilin

Yossi Beilin was born in 1948 in Israel.
After writing as a journalist and editorial board member of "Davar", he received his Ph.D. in political science from Tel-Aviv University and was a scholar in the Tel-Aviv University Institute for the Study of Zionism.
Dr. Beilin served as spokesman of the Israel Labor Party from 1977-1984. He served as Cabinet Secretary from 1984-1986, and as Director-General for Political Affairs of the Foreign Ministry from 1986-1988.
He was elected to the Knesset in 1988, and served as Deputy Minister of Finance from 1988-1990. He was a member of the Knesset Foreign Affairs and Defense, Immigration and Absorption, and Constitution, Law and Justice Committees (1990-1992).

Read more.

[tinnypriv]

2. Yeah, the signers had to be reduced to advertising on the net

After their radio ads were deemed "political".

And for some reason, their webpage announcing the distribution was deleted too. That might just be a mistake.

[Jack Rabbit]

3. Yasser Abed Rabbo (Abu Bashar)

A brief profile of the principal Palestinian negotiator of the Geneva Accords from an American-Isreali website, the Jewish Virtual Library.

Yasser Abed Rabbo (Abu Bashar)

Abed Rabbo has worked alongside Yasser Arafat since the 1960s. In 1968, Abed Rabbo was a founding member (with Nayef Hawatmeh) of the Democratic Front for the Liberation of Palestine (DFLP), a leftist group in the PLO. He became its Deputy Secretary-General in 1973 and headed the Information and Culture department from 1973 - 1994.
He was part of the Palestinian negotiation team in 1988 - 1990 which involved Jordan and the U.S. In 1991, Abed Rabbo broke away from the DFLP and formed Fida, the Palestinian Democratic Union, a group that protested Jordanian involvement in Palestinian politics. Later the group solidly supported the Madrid and Oslo peace processes. Abed Rabbo participated in both Middle East peace negotiation teams.
When the Palestinian Authority was established in 1994, he headed the Information Ministry . . . .
Abed Rabbo is part of the "old guard" yet some feel he recognizes the failures of the PLO to bring about a lasting peace with Israel. Some feel he appears to be someone who will officially recognize Israel's right to exist and will earnestly work for a viable peace plan.

Read more.

[papau]

4. I love the mass mailing - It is a complete peace p;an with huge detail

I'm certain it will have majority approval on both sides

and I am sure that will scare the hardliners into doing more terror - unless the US puts its foot down.

[Jack Rabbit]

5. The Plan?

Please click here.

[Lithos]

6. The plan is a good start

One thing which it tells me though is how inconsequential Bush's Roadmap is being perceived as people are moving on towards other solutions.

No surprise there.

L-

[Jack Rabbit]

7. It also tells us how inconsequential the I/P leadership is perceived

I agree that this is the most promising peace proposal we've seen so far. Perhaps it is no coincidence that Arafat and Sharon had nothing to with it. This is the product of a revolt by reasonable people.

In fact, Sharon seems to want nothing to do with it. As for Arafat, he allowed others to usurp his authority to make war. Why not let others usurp his authority to make peace? Let's end him off to join Suha in France and enjoy their stolen money.

[Lithos]

8. But of course

Neither Sharon nor Arafat are willing instruments of peace as peace does not benefit either of them.

Sharon and the Likud Party derive their power from being the Party of Security and ultimately War. From his early days, Sharon has shown his addiction to the limelight of power. Unfortunately, he is not the great general he thinks he is as his only recourse has been the crass use of power, a hammer to a nail. Peace is beyond his limited thinking and he knows it. He is a destroyer, not a builder.

Like Sharon, Arafat owes his success to war and not to peace. Like Sharon, Arafat is a war-profiteer, albeit of greater material success. Like Sharon, Arafat was a good brigade leader, a mediocre general and a failed politician whose power and material worth is derived from the continuing the conflict. Again, he is not a builder whose shortcomings in state-building are evident in his failure to put the state ahead of his own petty and personal concerns. Peace would stop this control and relegate him to the sidelines, impotent.

Both are dinosaurs who are struggling for the dubious honor of being the last one to become extinct. Their days of glory are passed and what remains are two men scrambling for the last vestiges of control. Eventually time will pass them by, hopefully sooner than later (thankfully both are in their 70's). I would rather they spent their remaining years in retirement, but I don't think that will happen.

In the meanwhile, I am very glad to see reasonable men, men who can see to the future, are working to build the necessary bridges. This gives me some hope for the near term.

L-