Palestinians protest against Geneva Accord

08 December 2003
About 3,000 Palestinians gathered on 5 December in the West Bank town of Nablus to protest against the new Geneva Accord peace plan. The demonstrators took to the streets and burnt Swiss flags and effigies of the authors, former Israeli and Palestinian diplomats Yossi Beilin and Yasser Abed Rabbo. The protest, which was arranged by Palestinian militant group Hamas, aimed to highlight that the accord does not include the Palestinian right to return, which the group says is a right for all Palestinians who have been forced to leave the Occupied Territories. 'The Geneva Accord is the most serious attack on the Palestinian national cause since the Balfour Declaration, ' said local Hamas leader Ahnan Asfur.

The protests in Nablus came hours before Beilin and Rabbo were scheduled to meet US Secretary of State, Colin Powell, in Washington. Powell said on 2 December that he would meet with the authors of the new peace accord, as planned, despite opposition from Israel. Both Israeli and Palestinian Authority officials have said that the Geneva Accord detracts from the internationally-sponsored peace roadmap, despite claims that the Palestinians would gain more from the rival text (MEED 3:12:03).

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