Main Page | See live article | Alphabetical index

Geneva Accord

The Draft Permanent Status Agreement, better known as the Geneva Accord, is an extra-governmental and therefore unofficial peace proposal meant to solve the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. It which would give Palestinians almost all of the West Bank and Gaza Strip and part of Jerusalem, drawing Israel's borders close to what existed before the 1967 Middle East war. In return for removing most of the Israeli settlements in those areas, the Palestinians would limit their "right of return" to Israel to a number specified by Israel.

The Accord was officially launched on December 1, 2003 at a ceremony in Geneva. Amongst its creators are Israeli politican Yossi Beilin and former Palestinian Authority minister Yasser Abed Rabbo.

There is disagreement over the degree to which the Accord would oblige Israel to accept Palestinian refugees, perhaps the most contentious issue of the conflict. The relevant text of the Accord is Article 7, section 4.c:

Option iv [Israel as a permanent place of residence] shall be at the sovereign discretion of Israel and will be in accordance with a number that Israel will submit to the International Commission. This number shall represent the total number of Palestinian refugees that Israel shall accept. As a basis, Israel will consider the average of the total numbers submitted by the different third countries to the International Commission.

Some claim that this would not oblige Israel to accept any refugees, while others claim that it would oblige Israel to accept some.

External links