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Peace Process

Oslo architect: Drop Road Map, go with Geneva


By Ryan Jones
October 11, 2005

The US-backed Road Map to Middle East Peace which is purportedly based on reciprocity has stagnated, and a more expeditious agreement ignoring ?Palestinian? non-compliance with their agreements under the Oslo Accords is needed to achieve peace, Israeli ultra-leftist Yossi Beilin said Monday.

To that end, Beilin visited Europe this week hand-in-hand with his ?Palestinian? partner, Yasser Abed Rabbo, to promote their own unofficial peace plan, the Geneva Accord.

Originally published in 2003, the Geneva initiative envisions the rapid establishment of a Palestinian Arab state on virtually all of Judea, Samaria and Gaza, the reduction of most Jewish settlements to rubble, and the division of Jerusalem ? three-millennia-old capital of the nation of Israel.

The one concession to Israel is that the Jewish state would not have to absorb all of the so-called ?Palestinian refugees.?

Palestinian Authority compliance with its commitments to disarm and dismantle anti-Jewish terrorist groups operating out of territories under its control is not a precondition to obtaining sovereignty under the plan.

Nevertheless, Beilin insists such surrender by Israel is the only way forward.

?The Road Map for Israeli-Palestinian peace was suggested with the best of intentions, but became a kind of trap for all of us,? said Beilin during a press conference in Budapest, apparently referencing Israel's ability to stop making concessions under the Road Map when the ?Palestinians? fail to keep their side of the bargain.

At this point ?the Road Map is just lip service for the American president, for [Israeli Prime Minister Ariel] Sharon, for [Palestinian leader] Abu Mazen, for the Europeans,? the Associated Press quoted him as saying.

Beilin pointed to Israel's recent withdrawal from Gaza and the subsequent renewal of ?Palestinian? hostilities as proof that only a continual stream of Israeli concessions until all Arab demands are met can bring peace.

?If it is followed by nothing and 'Gaza first' becomes 'Gaza last,' the security situation after the withdrawal is going to be much worse than before that.?

A former Labor MK and justice minister, Beilin has become something of a political outcast in Israel after failing to win a seat in parliament in the last general election.

Despite the rejection at the polls, he presumes that fully 40 percent of Israelis support his plan.

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