Brit Tzedek v'Shalom

Jewish Alliance for Justice and Peace

Main Page

Geneva Accord Full Text

Executive Summary

Negotiators

Political and Opinion Leaders

Congressional Resolution

Media Analysis

Map

Israelis, Palestinians Sign Draft Peace Proposal in Jordan

By NEWS AGENCIES, Ha'aretz
October 12, 2003

AMMAN - Some 40 prominent Palestinian and Israeli politicians, including Labor MKs Amram Mitzna and Avraham Burg, have signed a memorandum of understanding envisaging solutions to the Middle East conflict and providing an alternative to the ongoing.

The signing of the declaration took place at a Red Sea resort late Saturday at the end of two days of deliberations between the two sides, deputy Palestinian ambassador in Jordan Atallah Khairi said.

"The document provides solutions to final settlement issues such as the status of Arab East Jerusalem, frontiers, the establishment of a Palestinian state and the right of returning home of Palestinian refugees who were forced to leave Palestine when Israel was founded in 1948," he added.

The Palestinian team was led by former Information Minister Yasser Abed Rubboh while the Israeli side was chaired by former minister Yossi Beilin.

Though the Jordanian government said that it "had nothing to do with the meeting", reliable sources said that the Israeli-Palestinian talks were attended by Jordanian Foreign Minister Marwan Muasher and other senior Foreign Ministry officials.

The Israeli delegation left Thursday evening for the three-day meet, which sought to reach compromises on thorny issues such as the return of Palestinian refugees, settlements, the borders of a future Palestinian state and the future status of Jerusalem.

The document was prepared over the course of a year by Beilin and Abed Rabbo, with the assistance of several professionals, and is intended to draft a permanent peace agreement to end the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. Palestinian Authority Chairman Yasser Arafat has given his blessing to the dialogue.

The draft is based on the Taba agreements that were drafted during the end of Ehud Barak's term as prime minister in 1999, and former U.S. president Bill Clinton's plan for the division of Jerusalem between Israel and the Palestinians, which included providing the right of return for Palestinians in humanitarian cases.

Labor MK Ephraim Sneh supported the dialogue between the Israelis and Palestinians, but criticized the level of details explored by the agreement.

"Any talks between Israel and the Palestinians, especially between senior officials, is welcome. But it is undesired to agree on issues that are overly detailed, that will become the starting point for the Palestinians in future negotiations," Sneh said Thursday.

Meretz MK Yossi Sarid told Israel Radio on Friday that he had participated in the discussions on the draft, but could not leave for Jordan to attend the signing ceremony for personal reasons.

Sarid would not provide details of the contents of the agreement, but said that there was no intention to keep the draft secret. He said that the Israeli and Palestinian "peace coalition" has been meeting continuously.

"We believe in these meetings, we think that there is something to talk about and someone to talks too, perhaps today more than ever, and it is a shame that the government won't talk, just shoot," Sarid said.

"These meetings were not carried out in an underground manner or in the dark," Sarid said, referring to Prime Minister Ariel Sharon accusations earlier this week that the Labor and the left were cooperating with the Palestinians "behind the back of the government."

Sarid explained that the meetings had to be coordinated with the security establishment.

"I don't understand why the prime minister was angered by the meeting near the Dead Sea... Perhaps Sharon is scared that a terrible secret would come out: that there is someone to talk too and a significant degree of goodwill on the part of the second party, and that this is a time in which calm, even relative calm can be achieved... We, unlike him, are not afraid."

Health Minister Dan Naveh (Likud) described the Belin-Abed Rabbo agreement as a phenomenon "reeking of a bad odor."

"The opposition is negotiating behind the government's back with the Palestinians, while we are in a serious conflict with them, in a war against Palestinian terror, which is directed and encouraged by some of the people with whom the left-wing officials have met," Naveh said.

"It is not the opposition's job to hold talks, it is the government's job, and there are reasons for the government to avoid negotiations today with these people, Arafat's people, who have been behind the campaign of murder of terror over the past three years," Naveh said.

"Those people, Sarid, Beilin and the others, were the architects of the Oslo agreements ten years ago, which in my opinion the agreement that brought this terrible catastrophe on us," he added.