4 December 2003 – Foreign Affairs Secretary Blas F. Ople today said that the “Geneva Accord” contains a comprehensive peace plan for the Middle East and could point the way to peace in the Middle East.

“The Geneva Accord complements the existing Roadmap for Peace.  The Geneva Accord provides suggestions on the issues that have yet to be addressed by the Roadmap.  Although the Geneva Accord was negotiated by officials of many of the governments involved, it could point the way towards peace and it symbolizes the unwavering desire of the international community for lasting peace in the Middle East,” Secretary Ople said.

On 2 December 2003, at a ceremony in Switzerland attended by former presidents and Nobel prize-winners, Israeli and Palestinian moderates formally launched the "Geneva Accord", a comprehensive alternative peace plan for the Middle East. Nelson Mandela, the former South African president, and Poland's Lech Walesa, took part in the ceremony via video link-up. Fifty-eight former presidents, prime ministers, foreign ministers and other leaders, including former Soviet President Mikhail Gorbachev, South Africa's FW de Klerk, and Mexico's Ernesto Zedillo, released a statement yesterday expressing their "strong support" for the accord.

“We have had similar attempts from outside government to propose peace plans.  But the Geneva Accord not only provides the most detailed and far-reaching resolution to the Middle East conflict but has also attracted the support of leading international personalities and peace advocates,” the Secretary said.

The agreement was hammered out over three years of secret negotiations and is a detailed blueprint for the withdrawal of the Israeli army from most of the occupied West Bank and Gaza Strip and the establishment of an independent Palestinian state alongside Israel. The Palestinian side agreed to largely give up the "right of return" for Palestinian refugees who fled or were forced out of what became Israel in 1948. In return, the Palestinian state was given sovereignty over the Temple Mount, or Haram al-Sharif, the Holy Land's most disputed site, and much of the rest of Jerusalem's Old City. END.