Israel Rebukes U.S. for Meeting With Peace Planners

The plan, known as the Geneva Accord after the location of its formal unveiling Monday, calls for a Palestinian state in Israeli-occupied territory, as does the U.S.-backed “road map” to peace.

However, the accord goes further than the road map by requiring the removal of most Jewish settlements from the Palestinian territories and the division of Jerusalem into Israeli and Palestinian capitals. In addition, Palestinians would have to forego their claim to land in Israel that they departed during and after the creation of the Jewish state in 1948, according to The Washington Post.

U.S. officials have said Powell is willing to meet with the plan’s architects — former Israeli Justice Minister Yossi Beilin and former Palestinian Information Minister Yasser Abed Rabbo — in Washington later this week.

While the Geneva Accord has no official standing, its authors hope it will pressure officials to engage in serious peace negotiations.

Powell has called the plan “useful” but no substitute for the road map, according to Reuters news service.

Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon and some senior Palestinian officials oppose the plan.

“I think he (Powell) is making a mistake,” Israeli Vice Premier Ehud Olmert said on Israel Radio of the anticipated meeting. “I think he is not helping the process.”

Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat called it “a brave and courageous initiative … that opens the door to peace,” though he stopped short of endorsing it, the Post reported.

Also expected to meet this week in Cairo are leaders of Hamas, Islamic Jihad and other militant groups on whether to suspend attacks against Israel. Participants said they were unlikely to declare a truce unless Israel reciprocated, Reuters reported.

Meanwhile, Israeli forces have continued raids in areas suspected of housing Palestinian militants. During an incursion into the West Bank city of Ramallah Monday, Israeli troops killed four Palestinians, including two members of Hamas, an 11-year-old boy and a fourth unidentified person, according to Palestinian officials. Israeli forces also killed a militant linked to Arafat’s Fatah faction during a tank raid in the West Bank town of Jenin on Tuesday.