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NEWS & LETTERS, January-February 2004Our Life and Times by Kevin A. BarryMideast peace planA group of unofficial Palestinian and Israeli negotiators unveiled a new peace plan in Geneva in December. Many governments and individuals--from Britain’s Prime Minister Tony Blair to South Africa’s Nelson Mandela--sent messages of support, but not the Bush administration. The Geneva Accord, worked out primarily by Yossi Beilin and Yasir Abed Rabbo, agreed to: 1) Israeli withdrawal to the 1967 borders; 2) Palestinian renunciation of the right of return of the 1948 refugees and their descendents to Israel proper; 3) joint sovereignty of the religious sites in Jerusalem’s old city, with international monitors; 4) the creation of a demilitarized but sovereign Palestinian state. The rightist government in Israel, led by war criminal Ariel Sharon, rejected the plan before it was even announced, as did some elements in the Palestinian nationalist camp and all Islamist factions. It seems to enjoy a great deal of grassroots support, however. Since 2000, some 2,200 Palestinians and 800 Israelis have been killed during the Second Intifada. The Israeli government has resorted to indiscriminate attacks on civilian areas with tanks and planes, also building a racist wall that cuts deeply into the West Bank. Palestinians have repeatedly targeted civilians with their suicide bombings. All of this has been condemned by international human rights groups. The U.S. media trumpets reports of Palestinian violence, which has declined considerably in recent months, but it ignores or downplays the strangulation of Palestinian communities by the Israeli government. |
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