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The Roadmap plan for peace between Israeli and Palestinians was "a historic window of opportunity" opening up "after a terrible period of death and destruction on both sides of the conflict," UN Secretary-General Kofi Annan said Thursday in a message issued at a meeting on Arab-Israeli peace.
"No previous peace plan has enjoyed such broad support from such important actors as this one does: the US, Europe, Russia, and key Arab states, including Egypt and Jordan," Annan said to the International Alliance for Arab-Israeli Peace conference.
Annan said the roadmap, formally presented last week by the diplomatic Quartet of the UN, United States, European Union and Russian Federation, was very clear about the end goal.
The goal "is a secure and prosperous Israel and an independent, viable, sovereign and democratic Palestine, living side-by-side in peace and security, in a Middle East from which terror and violence will at last be banished," he recalled.
The UN chief noted that it was equally clear about steps for getting there, not only who must do what, but also when.
"It recognizes that peace will not be achieved if each side waits for the other to move first," he said. "At every stage in the process, both sides must be able to see a tangible improvement in their situation, and an unmistakable movement towards the end goal. Otherwise they will not have the confidence to move on."
The alliance conference convened in Denmark brings together influential people from Egyptian, Palestinian, Jordanian and Israeli societies participating in their private capacities and representing a wide range of political trends but united by the wish of realizing peace in the region.
The Roadmap calls for a series of parallel steps by the Israelis and Palestinians over the next three years toward a realizing the vision of two states, Israel and Palestine.
(Xinhua News Agency May 9, 2003)
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