Question: Western news agencies have reported, citing a statement of the Palestinian side, that the head of the Russian MFA, Igor Ivanov, had sent a letter to a former member of the government of the Palestinian National Authority, Yasser Abd Rabbo, in which he welcomed the alternative peace plan for Palestinian-Israeli settlement drawn up by a group of Palestinian and Israeli (opposed to the Cabinet of Ariel Sharon) politicians. Could you comment on these reports?

Answer: As is known, a group of Palestinian and Israeli public and political figures for the last two years worked on a position document on a definitive settlement of the conflict between the parties.

This group consists of former ministers of the governments of the PNA and Israel Yasser Abd Rabbo and Yossi Beilin, retired officers of Israeli special services, prominent figures in the left opposition of Israel and the representatives of the Palestinian public. In February 2003 a delegation of representatives of the Israeli and Palestinian "peace camp" was received in Moscow by Igor Ivanov.

As a result of the joint work and a series of meetings, including those held in Switzerland, these figures had by mid-October 2003 prepared a voluminous document that has become known as the "Geneva Accord" or "Taba plus." It was drawn up on the basis of the ideas and suggestions that were discussed in negotiations between the parties back under the government of Ehud Barak at the end of 2000 - the beginning of 2001.

Generally we note that sentiments are growing in Israeli and Palestinian public opinion in favor of a search for a political solution to the current dead-end situation. Consonant with the Beilin-Abd Rabbo proposals is the joint statement of former Israeli security chief Ami Ayalon and Palestinian public figure Sari Nuseibeh, in which an attempt also was made to offer compromise solutions on the most acute issues in Palestinian-Israeli settlement.

Needless to say, the accords and statements bear an informal character, as no official representatives of Israel and the PNA took part in their preparation. At the same time, it appears to us that the work done was useful; it has helped to demonstrate the ability of Palestinians and Israelis to jointly find variants of a solution to the most complicated problems and to search for a reasonable alternative to military confrontation.

We do not think that these ideas and suggestions are contrary to the "Road Map," which is currently the sole real program for moving forward towards a settlement based on the concept of coexistence of two states, Israel and Palestine, in peace and security. But at the same time the Road Map does not detail possible solutions to cardinal final-status problems, such as Jerusalem, refugees and borders. In this connection, we think, when the implementation of the third stage of the Road Map begins, which presupposes the start of official talks between the parties on the questions of final status, the "Geneva Accord," as well as the Ayalon-Nuseibeh statement, may turn out to be called for.

Recently Beilin and Abd Rabbo sent Ivanov a joint message informing him of the work done by their group. In his turn, Ivanov sent a reply message to the authors of the "Geneva Accord" that set forth Russia's approaches to the problems of Israeli-Palestinian relations.

By and large our assessments of the "Geneva Accords" and of the Statement of Principles of Ayalon and Nuseibeh are shared by the partners in the Quartet, which consists of the US, EU and UN as well as Russia.

As far as we know, at the beginning of this December in Geneva concerned non-governmental organizations are planning to hold a ceremony of presentation of the agreement prepared by the group of Abd Rabbo and Beilin. We hope that this event will serve to overcome the present dead-end in the peace process, to restore mutual trust and to achieve a historical compromise between the Israeli and Palestinian peoples.