Uri Avnery on the new mideast peace plan, The Beilin Agreement: "The Beilin-Abed-Rabbo agreement is the latest hit on the Middle Eastern market. This week I made a short visit to Germany, where a book of mine has come out, and was asked about it at every event. At my meetings with President Johannes Rau and Foreign Minister Joschka Fischer, too, the subject came up at once. I used the opportunity to argue for support of this initiative by all possible means."

"Both drafts [Beilin and Gush Shalom] are based on the principle of "two states for two peoples", with their capitals in Jerusalem, a border based on the Green Line, removal of the settlers from the Palestinian territories and a practical solution of the refugee problem. The differences are mainly due to Beilin-Abed-Rabbo's desire to sweeten the pill for the Israelis as much as possible."

"Throughout the world, the document was well received by all who wish for an end to the conflict. The great hope is that this initiative, like the "revolt of the pilots", represents the end of the era of despair. The first task of Beilin and his colleagues is to raise the Labor and Meretz parties from their ruins (the Labor party chairman, the birthday darling, has not joined the initiative!) and to set up a strong and combative opposition in the spirit of the document. To quote Churchill again: This is not the beginning of the end, but it is, perhaps, the end of the beginning."

Uri Avnery on the new mideast peace plan, The Beilin Agreement: "The Beilin-Abed-Rabbo agreement is the latest hit on the Middle Eastern market. This week I made a short visit to Germany, where a book of mine has come out, and was asked about it at every event. At my meetings with President Johannes Rau and Foreign Minister Joschka Fischer, too, the subject came up at once. I used the opportunity to argue for support of this initiative by all possible means."

"Both drafts [Beilin and Gush Shalom] are based on the principle of "two states for two peoples", with their capitals in Jerusalem, a border based on the Green Line, removal of the settlers from the Palestinian territories and a practical solution of the refugee problem. The differences are mainly due to Beilin-Abed-Rabbo's desire to sweeten the pill for the Israelis as much as possible."

"Throughout the world, the document was well received by all who wish for an end to the conflict. The great hope is that this initiative, like the "revolt of the pilots", represents the end of the era of despair. The first task of Beilin and his colleagues is to raise the Labor and Meretz parties from their ruins (the Labor party chairman, the birthday darling, has not joined the initiative!) and to set up a strong and combative opposition in the spirit of the document. To quote Churchill again: This is not the beginning of the end, but it is, perhaps, the end of the beginning."