A `virtual' Mideast peace plan.

The following editorial appeared in the Chicago Tribune on Friday, Nov. 28:

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It would be easy to dismiss the two-year effort to hammer out a "virtual" Middle East peace agreement, called the Geneva accord, as simply an elaborate parlor game between well-known liberals and moderates on both sides who have no power. Indeed, many already have labeled it as such, and denounced it as a fraud or worse. But that would be to miss what such an accord represents. In a word: hope.

Even as partisans attack the accord for its obvious shortcomings and impugn the motives of the framers, they miss that point. Hope is a commodity in scarce supply these days in Israel and the occupied territories. The U.S.-led road map plan is in tatters, shredded largely by the Palestinian terrorists intent on destroying any chance of peace. Israeli reluctance to make significant moves to support former Palestinian Prime Minister Mahmoud Abbas also undermined the plan.

The Palestinian leaders have proved unwilling or unable to challenge the terrorists in their midst; the Israelis are building a security fence on the West Bank that could become a de facto border. Hope for a two-state peace settlement is flickering.

The accord is an outgrowth of an attempt to keep channels open between Israelis and Palestinians and find ways to resolve the violent conflict. It was supported by the Swiss government and negotiated by delegations that included former government officials, writers, lawmakers, academics and prominent politicians.

Whatever else it represents, the Geneva agreement is a far more specific road map than the one introduced in the spring by the U.S. This accord, based partly on the last-gasp Clinton plan of late 2000, appears to settle all the major issues separating the sides.