============================================================ Annan Welcomes Mideast Peace Plan Draft
.c The Associated Press UNITED NATIONS (AP) - U.N. Secretary-General Kofi Annan on Wednesday welcomed an informal Mideast peace plan drafted by prominent Israelis and Palestinians, calling it a ``courageous'' attempt to break the stalemate on both sides. The so-called ``Geneva Accord,'' drafted by former Israeli and Palestinian negotiators, proposes a Palestinian state formed on nearly all the land Israel captured in the 1967 Mideast War. It would also give Palestinians control of Jerusalem's Temple Mount, site of Judaism's two biblical Temples destroyed by invading armies. In return, Palestinians would give up their demand that hundreds of thousands of refugees be allowed to return to Israel. ``Such private initiatives, while not a substitute for official diplomatic negotiations between the government of Israel and the Palestinian Authority, deserve 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. associate spokesman Stephane Dujarric said. Annan considers the plan ``both consistent and compatible'' with the ``road map'' peace plan whose last phase calls for agreements on sensitive final status issues including Jerusalem, Israeli settlements and Palestinian refugees, Dujarric said. ``It is now of paramount importance that the parties start implementing the road map provisions without delay,'' he said. 11/05/03 22:45 EST Source: AP http://www.ap.org ________________________________ Changes to your subscription (unsubs, nomail, digest) can be made by going to http://sandboxmail.net/mailman/listinfo/sndbox_sandboxmail.net
