A Fine, Unofficial Mideast Peace Deal

Both sides seem to hate this deal so therefore it invariably must be a
good deal!  Let's all hope it succeeds.

As written in the article below: "But the fact is that this [the
unofficial plan] is more or less how it has to end."
[WJ20K]
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http://www.nytimes.com/2003/12/02/opinion/02TUE3.html
December 2, 2003
A Fine, Unofficial Mideast Peace Deal
 
To nitpick at the alternative blueprint for Middle East peace
presented yesterday in Geneva is to miss the importance of the
exercise. Sure, there are elements that require more work, more
elaboration, more debate. What is truly momentous is that Israelis and
Palestinians of good will have done what their current leaders have
shown themselves incapable of doing, and what the United States has
long urged the two sides to do: declaring in concrete terms how their
conflict can end. This courageous feat by Yossi Beilin and Yasir Abed
Rabbo should be welcomed, and built on.

The usual extremists immediately pounced on the Geneva Accord as an
act of treason to their respective causes. Palestinian radicals
predictably focused on the provisions that effectively deny
Palestinian refugees a blanket right of return to former homes in what
is now Israel, though such a step has long been inevitable. Yasir
Arafat, who was tacitly behind the negotiations, did what he always
does under pressure — he waffled. Israeli hard-liners denounced the
sharing of Jerusalem and the evacuation of most settlements.

Prime Minister Ariel Sharon made no effort to conceal his hostility
for the accord. His spokesman said it was tantamount to suicide by
Israel and a "Swiss golden calf" for the Israeli left.

The Geneva document is hardly radical. It calls for two neighboring
states with two capitals in Jerusalem, the evacuation of most Jewish
settlements and the incorporation of the rest into Israel in exchange
for an equivalent amount of land. It also calls for a limit, to be set
by Israel, on the number of Palestinian refugees who can settle in
Israel, and compensation or resettlement for the rest.

There is plenty left to negotiate here. But the fact is that this is
more or less how it has to end. Neither side will have all of
Jerusalem. The Palestinian refugees will not all come back,
effectively overwhelming the Jewish state. Many settlers will have to
go. The alternative is for the antagonists to continue their endless
arguments over whose religion grants what land to whom, and to
continue killing each other, dragging the rest of the world deeper and
deeper into the fray. The principles of the Geneva Accord are the
right way to go.