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Geneva Accord Enjoys International Support

NZZ Online
March 15, 2004

Switzerland has set up an international support club for a Swiss-backed peace plan for the Middle East, which was launched on December 1, 2003

The plan, dubbed the Geneva Accord, has been met with enthusiasm from 25 countries worldwide.

Last week ambassadors and other diplomatic representatives of the member countries of the support club, dubbed the Geneva Initiative Network (Gin), met in Geneva to discuss the current state of progress.

“The fact that this network has come off shows that the international community takes the Geneva Accord seriously,” said Nicolas Lang of the Swiss foreign ministry.

Since the launch of the Geneva Accord, the Swiss foreign minister, Micheline Calmy-Rey, has used her diplomatic contacts to mobilise support for the alternative peace plan.

Germany, France and Russia have signalled their backing, and Arab countries including Egypt, Jordan, Tunisia, Algeria, Morocco, Qatar, Oman and the United Arab Emirates have also joined the network.

“For us, it’s already a success that so many countries are lending their support to the initiative,” said Lang.

“Surveys have shown that 30 to 40 per cent of Israelis support the Geneva Accord and 95 per cent associate [the city of] Geneva with the initiative,” said Daviel Levy of the Israeli delegation and one of the initiators of the accord.

Palestinian Territories

Even though the plan has not been as widely discussed in the Palestinian territories, the initiators have high hopes it will find wide support there, too.

“The Geneva Accord is a model agreement which makes people realise that peace is a possibility,” said Ghaith Al Omari, a representative of the Palestinian delegation.

Levy believes the Geneva Accord has been an incentive for other groups to propose alternative peace plans and for the Israeli prime minister, Ariel Sharon, to consider a withdrawal from the Gaza Strip.

“The proposed peace plan has filled a vacuum,” said Levy.

The Geneva Accord outlines a plan for the division of Jerusalem and the creation of a Palestinian state, and also covers other contentious issues such as the return of Palestinian refugees and the removal of most Jewish settlements in the occupied territories.

Switzerland says it wants to step up promotion of the peace plan by providing information to local people through seminars or via the internet.

“We have to focus on the local people. It’s easier to convince the international community than win over the people who are actually affected,” said Lang.

Switzerland said it was planning to invest another SFr2 million ($1.57 million) on the alternative peace plan this year, on top of the SFr1.3 million spent to date.

  *swissinfo, based on an article previously published by NZZ

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