A VISION EXISTS FOR MIDDLE EAST PEACE – IT’S 423 PAGES LONG

Globe and Mail

An Israeli army convoy drives by the northern Gaza border September
22, 2009.

Known as the Geneva Initiative, it is the only detailed proposal ever
prepared jointly by people on both sides

Patrick Martin

Tel Aviv — From Thursday’s Globe and Mail Last updated on Thursday,
Sep. 24, 2009 03:19AM EDT

U.S. President Barack Obama spoke with Israeli and Palestinian leaders
at the United Nations this week, refusing to give up on Middle East
peace in spite of the failure of his emissary, George Mitchell, to
find enough common ground between the two sides to justify a summit
with Mr. Obama.

If there ever is to be a two-state solution to the 61-year conflict,
the final treaty will look a lot like a 423-page blueprint released
last week.

The detailed plan is the work of a private joint project that began
in 2001 with meetings between an Israeli group, led by former deputy
foreign minister Yossi Beilin, and a Palestinian group, led by Yasser
Abed Rabbo, a member of the executive committee of the PLO.

Known as the Geneva Initiative, for the city where the initial
meetings quietly took place, the two sides produced in 2003 a model
for an Israeli-Palestinian peace agreement. It remains the only such
detailed proposal ever prepared jointly by people on both sides of
the conflict. The principles embodied in that 34-page document served
as a skeleton for the detailed annexes released last week.

"This is a recipe book for peacemakers," Mr. Beilin said at a press
conference to introduce the document in Tel Aviv.

"It shows that reaching agreement with the Palestinians is much easier
than people think," he said.

Most of the signatories of the 2003 accord also participated in the
production of the annexes. Their work, which involved a large number
of experts in each field, began almost two years ago.

In the wake of the conflict in Gaza, and with a new peace e Beilin
and Mr. Abed Rabbo made it clear that negotiators on each side must
waste no time in moving the peace process forward.

"We have faced such moments of truth and missed them too often in
the past, because we thought we had all the time in the world ahead
of us. That is a mistake we must not repeat," they wrote in the
introduction to the annexes.

Here are the kinds of questions the Geneva Initiative answers:

Where will the borders be? For the most part, they would run on or near
the Green Line that delineated Israeli territory from 1949 to 1967.

Exceptions would be those areas of Israeli settlement within the
Palestinian territory that are near the Green Line or near Jerusalem –
these would be annexed by Israel – and those areas of Israeli territory
that the parties agree should be annexed by Palestine. The latter
areas are found in the southwestern part of the West Bank and the
southeastern part of the Gaza Strip. The amount of Israeli land to be
annexed by Palestine would equal the amount of Palestinian territory
to be annexed by Israel.

The city of Jerusalem would be divided between areas of Palestinian
sovereignty and areas of Israeli sovereignty.

What happens to the settlers?

Most get to remain where they are. This includes the major settlements
of Maale Adumim, Modiin Ilit, Beitar Ilit and the Etzion Bloc.

Those Israeli settlers whose communities fall outside the areas
annexed by Israel would be evacuated to Israel. These include the large
northern settlement of Ariel and the settlements in and around Hebron
in the south. Gadi Baltiansky, director of the Geneva Initiative’s
Israel offices, estimates that about 100,000 of the 300,000 settlers
currently living in the occupied West Bank, not including east and
north Jerusalem, would have to be moved.

The 200,000 Israelis who live in occupied areas that Israel now
considers to be within Jerusalem would be allowed to remain and the
area would be annexed by Israel.

How would Jerusalem be shared? The new settler communities in north
Jerusale sh neighbourhoods of west Jerusalem. Keeping these dispersed
communities connected will be an interlocking transit system of
tunnels and bridges that maintains ties between Israeli communities
as well as between Palestinian communities.

The system also would permit Palestinians to traverse the area when
travelling between communities in the north, such as Ramallah, and
the south, such as Bethlehem.

The Old City of Jerusalem would be physically divided, with Israel
retaining only the Jewish Quarter, including the Western Wall,
while Palestine would have sovereignty over the other three quarters
(Muslim, Christian and Armenian) as well as the Haram al-Sharif,
or Temple Mount.

Neither Israelis nor Palestinians would be allowed to cross from one
side of the Old City to the other, though international visitors would
be allowed to cross, provided they have the necessary documents to
visit the other state.

Security in the Old City would be maintained by police forces of
each state, along with an international police unit that would
assist the two forces and serve as liaison between them. Along with
a multinational presence on the Temple Mount, the police unit also
would safeguard the integrity of the Haram al-Sharif.

The large Jewish cemetery on the Mount of Olives would be under
Palestinian sovereignty, but would be administered by Israelis. The
Old City police unit would police the road connecting Israel to
the cemetery.

Will the Palestinians have a military force? Yes, but its nature
and armaments will be limited. A police force, gendarmerie, border
security and intelligence forces will be permitted, but not an army,
navy or air force.

The Palestinian Security Force, a gendarmerie, will be permitted up
to 400 wheeled armoured vehicles; otherwise no armoured vehicles,
including tanks, will be permitted. Rockets, guided missiles,
anti-aircraft weapons, artillery, mortars, mines and machine guns
above a calibre of 7.62 mm will all be prohibited.

The use of any anti-armour weapons, explosives and grenades by the
ed by the multinational force.

No armed militias will be allowed.

How can each side be sure the other will adhere to security terms? An
implementation and verification group, composed of representatives of
the "Quartet" (United States, Russia, European Union, United Nations)
will be established to oversee the adherence to the terms of the peace
agreement. The group will establish a multinational force to protect
the territorial integrity of the non-militarized Palestinian state, as
well as verifying compliance with the prohibition of certain weapons.

Will Gaza and the West Bank be linked? Yes, by a corridor that runs
between the southwestern part of the West Bank to the northeastern
part of the Gaza Strip.

The corridor will be on sovereign Israeli territory but administered
by the Palestinian authorities. The corridor’s roadway will be lower
than ground level, enabling Israel to construct overpasses so that
Israeli vehicles may cross.

The corridor may also be used to carry high-voltage lines, fuel pipes,
water pipes and communication cables, as well as a railway if the
Palestinian government chooses.

Will the two countries share water? Yes, in a new formula that varies
significantly from the current sharing arrangement.

The water available to both Israel and Palestine is contained in
aquifers that exist beneath both jurisdictions. Until now, Israel
has used the greater share of this water.

Under this agreement, Israel and Palestine "agree on a just and
rightful redivision of the shared water resources" that would reduce
the share Israel uses and increase the Palestinian share. The new
division will be based on international law and factors such as
hydrology, human needs, economic circumstance and availability of
alternate supply.

What’s missing? The issue of refugees is absent from the annexes
published this week, though both sides agreed to the principles
of settling this issue laid down in the 2003 Geneva Accord. These
principles include the right to an informed choice of where a refugee
will m tion for lost property.

Among the choices of permanent residence will be: the state of
Palestine; areas of Israel transferred to Palestine under the land
swap; third countries that may offer residence to a declared number
of refugees; the state of Israel, which will offer residency to a
number of refugees based on the average number of refugees absorbed
by third countries; countries that currently host refugees, subject
to their sovereign discretion.

Asked what’s keeping the Palestinians from signing on to these annexes,
Mr. Beilin said that there really are no differences between the two
sides concerning the subject of refugees, but that the "sensitivity"
of the issue made it difficult for the Palestinian side to agree
publicly to the refugee annex.

Palestinians familiar with the two positions say there is concern in
the PLO over some of the ideas proposed by the Israeli side. These
ideas include a cap on compensation for lost property, and the absence
of a clause asserting the right of Palestinians to return to what is
now Israel.

Mr. Baltiansky said that while "Palestinians won’t sign an agreement
that says they give up the right to return, Israelis won’t sign if
it says there is a right to return." The answer, he said, was arrived
at in 2003: "The right to return is not mentioned at all."

"The fact is," he said, "either we’re dealing with a dream or with
reality." The reality says both parties must compromise on their dream.