Palestinians and Israeli leftists unveiled an alternative peace initiative in Geneva amid strong opposition back home. Some 700 people attended the ceremony marking the formal launch of the Geneva Initiative, presided over by Hollywood movie star Richard Dreyfuss and attended by other celebrities and former leaders.
Former Palestinian information minister Yasser Abed Rabbo, who along with ex-Israeli justice minister Yossi Beilin was among the main architects of the plan, said that it was "the first step in a long march" towards peace. "This proves that a majority among Palestinians and Israelis want peace," Abed Rabbo said.
Abed Rabbo dismissed suggestions that the peace plan was unrealistic, describing it as a "real historical compromise with real detailed solutions to all issues."
Meanwhile in Gaza, various Palestinian bodies, including political factions, local NGOs, public figures and ordinary Palestinians, denounced the Geneva Accord.
Such denouncement came in a conference called on by the “Popular Conference for the Defense of Palestinian Right to Return."
Participants denounced strongly the Geneva Accord and reiterated the Palestinain people right of return to their homeland, Palestine.
In a statement, issued at the end of the conference, participants stressed also that the Palestinain people including their political factions, popular organizations and ordinary Palestinians are united more than ever against such an accord. (Albawaba.com)
