The Geneva Accord: A Model Israeli-Palestinian Peace Agreement (Draft Permanent Status Agreement, 1 December 2003)

Summary

A model draft Permanent Status Agreement between the State of Israel and the Palestine Liberation Organization as representative of the Palestinian people, presented as settling the conflict in all its aspects on a Two-state solution based on UNSC Resolutions 242 and 338: a border based on the June 4th 1967 lines with reciprocal 1:1 modifications in Map 1, Israeli withdrawal completed within 30 months, a non-militarised Palestine with a strong security force under a Multinational Force and an Implementation and Verification Group, divided sovereignty in Jerusalem with both capitals there and Palestinian sovereignty over al-Haram al-Sharif / the Temple Mount Compound at the end of withdrawal while the Wailing Wall is under Israeli sovereignty, a refugee settlement built on five Permanent Place of Residence options in which return to Israel is at Israel’s sovereign discretion in a number Israel submits, compensation through an International Commission and International Fund and the phasing out of UNRWA within five years, and staged release of Palestinian and Arab prisoners in Categories A-C, and lists 30 named Israeli and 22 named Palestinian signatories (computed from the lists, PDF p.21-22) including Yossi Beilin and Yasser Abed Rabbo (The Geneva Accord: A Model Israeli-Palestinian Peace Agreement (Draft Permanent Status Agreement, 1 December 2003), PDF p.1-22).

What the file is

The full text as downloaded from geneva-accord.org, 22 PDF pages, about 10,250 words in the supplied text copy, headed “The Geneva Accord / A Model Israeli-Palestinian Peace Agreement / Draft Permanent Status Agreement” (PDF p.1). It is a draft model, not a signed treaty between the Parties it names: Article 15 dates signature only by the placeholder “DD/MM/2003” (PDF p.21), Article 17 is a one-sentence summary of a final clause rather than a drafted clause, Articles 12-14 are placeholders (“See Annex 10”, “See Annex 12”, and a note that expert teams are still working, PDF p.20), and the closing lists are headed “Israeli Signatories” and “Palestinian Signatories” (PDF p.21-22) rather than signatures of Israel and the PLO. Annex X — referenced throughout for almost every operative detail — Schedule X, Annex 10, Annex 12, Map 1, Map 2 and Map X are not reproduced in the file, so the border, the Jerusalem sovereignty line, the withdrawal stage areas and the designated roads cannot be read from this file. Article 8 is printed twice in full, verbatim, on PDF p.19. The text copy is clean and legible, with one gap: Article 5/3/i (PDF p.6) breaks off mid-sentence — “No armed forces, other than as specified in this Agreement, will be deployed or” — and the original at that page was checked and breaks off in the same place, clause ii of Article 5/3 following immediately, so the sentence is incomplete in the file itself; no other part was unreadable.

Section by section

• Preamble (PDF p.1). End of confrontation, transition from the logic of war to the logic of peace, “the only viable solution is a two-state solution based on UNSC Resolution 242 and 338”, reciprocal recognition of the Jewish people’s and the Palestinian people’s right to statehood, the Madrid-to-Taba framework recited in the reading notes, full implementation of Resolutions 242, 338 and 1397, realisation of the permanent status component of President Bush’s June 24, 2002 speech and the Quartet Roadmap, and reconciliation with the Arab world per the Beirut Arab League Resolution of March 28, 2002.
• Article 1 Purpose (PDF p.2). The Agreement ends the era of conflict; its implementation settles all claims arising from events prior to signature and no further such claims may be raised.
• Article 2 Relations between the Parties (PDF p.2). Mutual recognition on Palestine’s establishment, Palestine as successor to the PLO, full diplomatic relations and resident Ambassadors within one month, each state as its people’s homeland, non-interference, supersession of all prior agreements, UN Charter basis, cooperation through the Israeli-Palestinian Cooperation Committee and joint economic bodies, insulated security cooperation against terrorism and violence, and a ministerial Palestinian-Israeli High Steering Committee.
• Article 3 Implementation and Verification Group (PDF p.2-3). The Implementation and Verification Group — the US, the Russian Federation, the EU, the UN and agreed others — to facilitate, guarantee, monitor and resolve disputes, acting through a Contact Group, a Special Representative based in Jerusalem, a Trilateral Committee meeting at least monthly and convenable within 48 hours, and the Multinational Force, with a dispute mechanism under Article 16.
• Article 4 Territory (PDF p.3-5). Border on the June 4th 1967 lines with reciprocal 1:1 modifications in Map 1 as the permanent international boundary; sovereignty and inviolability; Israeli withdrawal per Article 5; Joint Technical Border Commission demarcation completed within nine months; Israel to resettle Israelis in Palestinian sovereign territory, keep settlement immovable property intact under an agreed inventory, and Palestine to have exclusive title to what remains; and a West Bank-Gaza corridor under Israeli sovereignty, permanently open, under Palestinian administration and Palestinian law for its users, barred to entry into either state from it.
• Article 5 Security (PDF p.5-10). General undertakings against force, hostile coalitions, irregular forces and violence, and a monthly Joint Security Committee; a regional regime free of weapons of mass destruction; Palestine as “a non-militarized state, with a strong security force”, the Palestinian Security Force limited by Annex X and holding a weapons monopoly with the IVG organs; joint and unilateral counter-terrorism with a US trilateral committee; incitement laws; the Multinational Force deployed in Palestine under a SOFA to protect its territorial integrity, deter external attacks, observe borders, crossings and early warning stations, enforce anti-terrorism and train the PSF, withdrawable only by agreement; staged evacuation completed within 30 months with a further 36-month small Israeli presence in the Jordan Valley under MF authority; two Israeli early warning stations reviewed at ten years; IAF training use of Palestinian airspace reviewed every ten years; electromagnetic and law-enforcement cooperation; joint PSF-MF monitoring of Palestinian international crossings with a time-limited unseen Israeli presence in passenger terminals (thirty months on site, then two years from Israel) and cargo terminals (thirty months on site, then three years from Israel) and binding IVG and MF-inspector decisions within 24 and 12 hours respectively; and PSF border control monitored by the MF.
• Article 6 Jerusalem (PDF p.10-15). Recognition of the city’s significance to Judaism, Christianity and Islam, an inter-faith consultative body, and “their mutually recognized capitals in the areas of Jerusalem under their respective sovereignty”, sovereignty per Map 2; a Jerusalem border regime per Article 11; for al-Haram al-Sharif / the Temple Mount Compound, an International Group including OIC members and a Multinational Presence, a ban on digging, excavation or construction unless both Parties approve, Palestinian security responsibility, visitor access as determined by the Waqf, and Palestinian sovereignty asserted at the end of the Article 5/7 withdrawal; the Wailing Wall under Israeli sovereignty; the Old City as one whole under UNESCO rules, with an IVG cultural-heritage role, an Old City Policing Unit, free internal movement, staffed entry and exit points, one-week emergency suspension, colour-coding of sovereign areas, separate Israeli and Palestinian Old City police detachments under joint training and a Joint Situation Room, and an arms ban except for those police; the Mount of Olives Jewish Cemetery under Israeli administration with a guaranteed access road; special arrangements for the Mount Zion and German Colony cemeteries; the Western Wall Tunnel under Israeli administration; municipal coordination through the equal-membership Jerusalem Co-ordination and Development Committee and its eight subcommittees; loss of Israeli permanent-resident status by Palestinian Jerusalemites in areas transferred to Palestine; and interim socio-economic transfer measures preserving East Jerusalem residents’ accumulated rights.
• Article 7 Refugees (PDF p.15-19). An agreed resolution as necessary to a just, comprehensive and lasting peace, with UNGAR 194, UNSC Resolution 242 and the Arab Peace Initiative (Article 2.ii.) recognised as the basis and their rights “fulfilled according to Article 7”; compensation for refugeehood and for loss of property, and host-state remuneration; five Permanent Place of Residence options — Palestine and the land-swap areas as of right, third countries, Israel and present host countries each at that state’s sovereign discretion in numbers it submits, Israel’s number based on considering the average of the third-country numbers, with priority to the refugee population in Lebanon; free and informed choice; refugee status terminated on realisation of a PPR and, for non-applicants, after two years; end of claims; property compensation as an aggregate Panel of Experts estimate from UNCCP and Custodian records multiplied by an agreed multiplier, constituting Israel’s lump-sum contribution to the International Fund, less the value of settlement fixed assets transferred, with no other financial claims against Israel; a Refugeehood Fund for communal development and commemoration; an International Commission with full and exclusive responsibility, an Executive Board and Status-determination (UNRWA registration as rebuttable presumption), Compensation, Host State Remuneration, PPR, Refugeehood Fund and Rehabilitation committees, PPR realised within five years; the International Fund disbursing to and auditing the Commission; UNRWA phased out per country and to “cease to exist five years after the start of the Commission’s operations”; and reconciliation programmes including commemorating villages and communities that existed prior to 1949.
• Article 8 Israeli-Palestinian Cooperation Committee (PDF p.19, printed twice). A ministerial IPCC with Co-Chairs established immediately on entry into force for cooperation in infrastructure, environment, municipal cooperation, industrial parks, exchanges, human resources, sports and youth, science, agriculture and culture.
• Article 9 Designated Road Use (PDF p.19-20). Israeli civilian use by permit of designated roads in Palestine in Map X — Road 443, Jerusalem to Tiberias via the Jordan Valley, and Jerusalem-Ein Gedi — without prejudice to Palestinian jurisdiction and PSF patrols, the roads patrolled by the MF at all times, and reciprocal Palestinian use of designated roads in Israel in the event of regional peace.
• Article 10 Sites of Religious Significance (PDF p.20). Guaranteed access by MF-inspected, MF-escorted shuttles from border crossings to agreed sites including the Tomb of the Patriarchs in Hebron, Rachel’s Tomb in Bethlehem and Nabi Samuel, with Palestinian Tourist Police and the MF present and a joint religious-administration body.
• Article 11 Border Regime (PDF p.20). Movement only through designated crossings under each state’s domestic law and the Agreement, designed to facilitate trade and labour movement, with Jerusalem per Article 6.
• Articles 12-14 (PDF p.20). Water: “See Annex 10”. Economic Relations: “See Annex 12”. Legal Cooperation: articles being dealt with by expert teams, to be presented to the public on completion.
• Article 15 Palestinian Prisoners and Detainees (PDF p.20-21). Release of all Palestinian and Arab prisoners detained in the framework of the conflict prior to signature: Category A (imprisoned prior to May 4, 1994, administrative detainees, minors, women and prisoners in ill health) immediately on entry into force; Category B (imprisoned after May 4, 1994) within eighteen months; Category C exceptional cases named in Annex X at thirty months at the end of full territorial implementation.
• Article 16 Dispute Settlement Mechanism (PDF p.21). Bilateral negotiation through the High Steering Committee, then IVG mediation and conciliation, then an agreed conciliation mechanism, then a three-member arbitration panel with the third arbiter chosen from the Annex X list by consensus or rotation.
• Article 17 Final Clauses (PDF p.21). A summary line providing for a UNSCR/UNGAR resolution endorsing the agreement and superseding previous UN resolutions, and that the English version is authoritative.
• Signatories (PDF p.21-22). 30 Israeli signatories and 22 Palestinian signatories named (computed from the lists), in the order recorded in the reading notes, including Yossi Beilin on the Israeli list and Yasser Abed Rabbo second on the Palestinian list, after Hisham Abdel-Razeg.

Key passages

• “the only viable solution is a two-state solution based on UNSC Resolution 242 and 338” (Preamble, PDF p.1)
• “the border between the states of Palestine and Israel shall be based on the June 4th 1967 lines with reciprocal modifications on a 1:1 basis as set forth in attached Map 1” (Article 4/1, PDF p.3)
• “Palestine shall be a non-militarized state, with a strong security force” (Article 5/3, PDF p.6)
• “Israel shall complete its withdrawal from the territory of the state of Palestine within 30 months of the entry into force of this Agreement” (Article 5/7, PDF p.8)
• “The Parties shall have their mutually recognized capitals in the areas of Jerusalem under their respective sovereignty” (Article 6/2, PDF p.10)
• “At the end of the withdrawal period stipulated in Article 5/7, the state of Palestine shall assert sovereignty over the Compound” (Article 6/5, PDF p.11)
• “The Wailing Wall shall be under Israeli sovereignty” (Article 6/6, PDF p.11)
• “Palestinian Jerusalemites who currently are permanent residents of Israel shall lose this status upon the transfer of authority to Palestine of those areas in which they reside” (Article 6/12, PDF p.15)
• “Refugees shall be entitled to compensation for their refugeehood and for loss of property” (Article 7/3, PDF p.15)
• “Priority in all the above shall be accorded to the Palestinian refugee population in Lebanon” (Article 7/4, PDF p.16)
• “UNRWA should cease to exist five years after the start of the Commission’s operations” (Article 7/13, PDF p.19)

Evidence the work relies on

A draft agreement, not an evidentiary work: it cites no studies, statistics or testimony and gives no figures beyond its own timetables, ratios and committee numbers. Its authority rests on instruments it incorporates or invokes by reference — UNSC Resolutions 242, 338 and 1397 and UNGAR 194, the UN Charter, the Madrid framework and the agreements and negotiations listed in its preamble, President Bush’s June 24, 2002 speech, the Quartet Roadmap, the Beirut Arab League Resolution of March 28, 2002 and the Arab Peace Initiative’s Article 2.ii., the 1944 Chicago Convention and International Air Services Transit Agreement, and the UNESCO World Cultural Heritage List — and, for the refugee property estimate, on records it directs the Panel of Experts to use: UNCCP records, the records of the Custodian for Absentee Property and any other records it deems relevant (PDF p.16). Its operative detail is deferred to Annex X, Schedule X, Annex 10, Annex 12, Map 1, Map 2 and Map X, none of which is in the file.

Analysis

The draft’s method is closure by enumeration: Article 1 settles all pre-signature claims, Article 7/7 provides “the permanent and complete resolution of the Palestinian refugee problem” with no claims except implementation claims, and Article 7/9 bars any other financial claim against Israel beyond the agreed lump sum, so finality is a term of the text rather than a result it argues for. Its substance is asymmetrical in the same pattern as its security chapter: Palestine is non-militarised with a weapons monopoly held by its security force and the IVG organs, Israel retains two early warning stations, a Jordan Valley presence for 36 months after withdrawal, training use of Palestinian airspace and an unseen presence at Palestinian crossings. Of these retentions only the Jordan Valley presence (36 months) and the crossing presences (thirty months on site, then two years for passenger terminals and three years for cargo terminals) are time-limited; the early warning stations are subject to review in ten years and thereafter five-yearly reviews and may be extended by mutual consent (PDF p.8), and IAF training use of Palestinian airspace, which the IVG monitors, is subject to review every ten years and may be altered or terminated only by agreement of both Parties (PDF p.9), while the Palestinian non-militarisation has no stated end. On refugees, the right-bearing options are Palestine and the swap areas; entry to Israel is a number Israel submits at its sovereign discretion, guided only by considering the average of third-country numbers, and status itself expires — on realisation of a PPR, on missing the two-year application window, or on not availing oneself of a determination — with UNRWA wound up on the same five-year clock. The text is unfinished as a document: signature date, water, economic relations, legal cooperation and the final clause are placeholders, Article 8 is duplicated, and every map and annex that would give the border, Jerusalem and withdrawal provisions their content is absent from the file, so what the file establishes is the draft’s framework and stated terms, not an operable agreement.

People, organizations, places and events

Geneva Accord, Yossi Beilin, Yasser Abed Rabbo, Palestine Liberation Organization, Implementation and Verification Group, Multinational Force, International Commission (Geneva Accord), UNRWA, Organization of the Islamic Conference, Quartet Roadmap, Western Wall, Temple Mount, Waqf, City of Jerusalem, East Jerusalem

Concepts

Two-state solution, Right of Return

How it relates to other sources

The draft expressly presents itself as the permanent status component of the Quartet Roadmap and as full implementation of Resolutions 242, 338 and UN Security Council Resolution 1397, where the Roadmap itself defers final-status substance to Phase III headings and Resolution 1515, ingested in batch 394, endorses the Roadmap without adding terms — this text supplies the detailed terms those instruments leave open. Its refugee formula is narrower than the basis it invokes: it recognises UNGAR 194 and the Arab Peace Initiative as the basis for resolving the issue while making admission to Israel discretionary and numerically capped by Israel’s own submission, where the Beirut text, as ingested, ties a just solution to Resolution 194. Against the The Clinton Parameters (23 December 2000), which it lists in its own negotiating lineage, it shares the 1967-lines-with-swap border basis, a non-militarised Palestine and divided Jerusalem sovereignty, but fixes the swap as reciprocal 1:1 rather than the Parameters’ 94-96 per cent with a 1-3 per cent swap, and adds machinery neither the Parameters minutes nor the Moratinos Taba report contains: the IVG, the MF, the Compound International Group and the refugee International Commission with a UNRWA phase-out date. It is a later, unofficial successor in the line of the Beilin/Abu-Masen Paper, the 1995 Beilin-Abbas permanent-status framework, with Yossi Beilin a named signatory here as he was a principal there.

Open questions

• No annex or map is in the file: Annex X, Schedule X, Annex 10 and Annex 12, Map 1, Map 2 and Map X are all referenced and none reproduced, so the actual border modifications, Jerusalem sovereignty division, withdrawal stage areas, EWS and cemetery locations, designated roads and almost all implementation detail cannot be checked from this file.
• Article 12 cites “Annex 10” and Article 13 “Annex 12” while every other reference is to Annex X and Schedule X; whether 10 and 12 are distinct annexes or a numbering slip is not resolved in the file.
• Article 8 is printed twice in full on PDF p.19; the file gives no indication whether the duplication is in the original draft or an artefact of this copy.
• Article 15 gives the signature date only as “DD/MM/2003”; the 1 December 2003 date carried in the file name and the download record is not printed anywhere in the text.
• Article 17 is a summary of a final clause, and Articles 12-14 are placeholders, so the draft as filed is incomplete; the file does not say whether a completed version exists.
• “IG” appears only in Article 6/5/ii/1 (PDF p.11), where the Compound regulations passage says maintenance and emergency repair procedures “shall be established by the IG” after consultation with the Parties, beside “IVG” used elsewhere for the Implementation and Verification Group; the preamble uses neither abbreviation, and the file does not expand “IG” at that point, so which body is meant there is left open on the face of the text.
• The signatory lists name individuals only, with no affiliations, titles or signature marks, so the file does not establish in what capacity any signatory acted.
• Article 5/2 describes a Middle East “free from weapons of mass destruction, both conventional and non-conventional” (PDF p.6) — the wording is as printed and its sense is not clarified in the text.
• Article 5/3/i breaks off mid-sentence in both the text copy and the original at PDF p.6 — “No armed forces, other than as specified in this Agreement, will be deployed or” — with clause ii following immediately; the rest of the sentence is not in the file as supplied, so what the clause went on to prohibit or permit is left open on the face of the text.

Coverage

PDF p.1-22 of 22, read in full.