Powell meets architects of Geneva initiative
Palestinian prime minister to join cease-fire talks in Egypt
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Yasser Abed Rabbo, right, and Yossi Beilin grasp hands at the announcement of the accord in Geneva earlier this month.
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WASHINGTON (CNN) -- The architects of an unofficial peace initiative between Israel and the Palestinians met Friday with U.S. Secretary of State Colin Powell and said their plan complements the U.S.-backed "road map" to peace.
Speaking to reporters after the meeting, Israeli Yossi Beilin and Palestinian Yasser Abed Rabbo -- both former officials of their governments -- said the meeting wasn't a negotiating or debating session.
They were pleased U.S. officials showed interest in the so-called Geneva accord as a "package" despite problems with portions of it.
Rabbo said "this is the only possible solution" and that it meets "the basic needs and aspirations" of both sides.
"This document is intended to help the road map to be implemented and to strengthen the credibility of the road map in front of the Palestinian public and the Israeli public and in the region as a whole," he said.
The road map, backed by the Mideast Quartet -- the United States, the United Nations, Russia and the European Union -- calls for steps on both sides toward ending the Israeli-Palestinian conflict and establishing an independent Palestine by 2005.
The Geneva plan calls for, among other things, Israeli withdrawal from all but about 2 percent of the West Bank, a divided Jerusalem serving as capital of both Israel and a Palestinian state, and an end to attacks by Palestinian groups on Israeli civilians.
Beilin said the Geneva accord is "a draft that can be used by decision makers" in pursuing a final-status agreement between both sides.
"The Geneva initiative contributed to the return to the internal debate in both societies -- let us not hide it," said Beilin, who said "nothing happened" for three years despite unity governments and consensus on both sides.
"Now we have an internal debate, a very interesting one, intensive one and quite painful," Beilin said.
The Israeli government strongly objected to the Powell meeting, and neither Israel nor the Palestinian Authority have endorsed the plan.
But both Powell and President Bush greeted the initiative positively. Powell said it is incumbent upon him to listen to new ideas, and Bush said he saw no harm in the plan and that he welcomes new ideas so long as they don't conflict with the principles set down in the road map.
Meanwhile, the Palestinian militant group Hamas, which has targeted Israeli civilians in terror attacks, will consider a cessation of attacks on civilians inside Israel, but not on troops and settlers in the West Bank and Gaza, Palestinian officials said Friday in Cairo.
The group's delegates -- meeting in Egypt with other Palestinians to help forge a unified position on the conflict with the Jewish state -- say the limited cessation would come only in exchange for Israel stopping attacks against Palestinian civilians, the officials told CNN.
They said Hamas might consider extending the proposed cease-fire to the West Bank and Gaza, but only if Palestinian Prime Minister Ahmed Qorei can win political concessions from Israel.
Qorei is to arrive Saturday at the talks, which are expected to last into Sunday.
Egypt has asked the Palestinian delegates to agree on a mutual cease-fire with Israel that would end the impasse and attract international support for their cause, a senior Palestinian official told CNN.
Along with Hamas, sources in the other delegations to the Cairo conference, including Islamic Jihad and Palestinian Authority President Yasser Arafat's Fatah movement, have told CNN that among the proposals being discussed were cease-fire plans.
Islamic Jihad is a militant group dedicated to the creation of an Islamic Palestinian state and the destruction of Israel. The group has carried out military operations against Israeli soldiers and civilians. Fatah is the mainstream faction and Palestinian nationalist movement of the Palestine Liberation Organization. It is dedicated to the formation of an independent Palestinian state.
Palestinian delegates said there is a preliminary agreement among some of the political parties to stop killing civilians inside Israel.
In return, these delegates said, they would ask the Mideast Quartet to pressure Israel to end what they call Israel's attacks on Palestinian civilians.
CNN Cairo bureau chief Ben Wedeman and producer Sausan Ghosheh contributed to this report.
