Global Policy Forum

By Evelyn Leopold

U.N. Secretary-General Kofi Annan on Wednesday praised as "courageous" an unofficial Middle East peace pact intended as a blueprint for future negotiations but rejected by Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon. Annan is the first key member of the "quartet" of Middle East advisers to support the plan, dubbed the Geneva Accord. He said it enhanced the quartet's U.S.-backed "road map" for an Israeli-Palestinian settlement.

Supported by the Swiss government, the Geneva initiative was drawn up by Israeli opposition leaders and former Palestinian ministers still close to Palestinian President Yasser Arafat. It offers precise maps on borders and spells out compromises on issues that have torpedoed previous peace efforts.

Annan said such efforts "deserved praise and encouragement as courageous attempts to break the stalemate on both sides and to generate the popular support needed for peace in the Middle East," U.N. spokesman Stephane Dujarric said. "The secretary-general considers the 'Geneva Accord' both consistent and compatible with the quartet's road map, the last phase of which calls for agreement on such sensitive final status issues as Jerusalem settlements and refugees," he said. The Geneva Accord was completed last month and is expected to be signed at a ceremony in early December. Annan was given a copy on Oct. 24 by the Swiss U.N. ambassador, Jeno Staehelin.

Sharon and several ministers have condemned the initiative, branding one of its authors, former Israeli Justice Minister Yossi Beilin, as a virtual traitor for consorting with the enemy behind the government's back at a time of war. Beilin intends to send the document to every Israeli household, so citizens can read it for themselves. The text has already been published in Arabic.

Annan cautioned the document was no substitute for official peace negotiations. "It is now of paramount importance that the parties start implementing the road map provisions without delay," he said.

The nearly dormant road map lays out steps the two sides should take along the way to setting up a Palestinian state by 2005. It has bogged down over Israeli demands the Palestinian Authority crack down on militants and Palestinian suspicions that Israel would give nothing in return.

It was drawn up by the United States, Russia, the European Union and the United Nations, members of the quartet. Annan, who has called for "bold steps" to revitalize the peace process, met last week with two other peace activists, after they collected 160,000 signatures on a petition in support of a two-state solution.

Their plan, similar but more general than the Geneva Accord, was formulated by Ami Ayalon, former head of Israel's Shin Bet security services, and Sari Nusseibeh, a Palestinian university president. Paul Wolfowitz, the U.S. deputy defense secretary, also voiced support for the two campaigners.

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