Aqaba, Geneva, Gaza – Approaches to Peacemaking in the Middle East MURIEL ASSEBURG I n late April 2003 the so-called»road map« was officially presented to the parties of the Israeli–Palestinian conflict by representatives of the Mid­dle East»quartet«( usa , eu , un and Russian Federation). The road map envisages a final and comprehensive settlement of the Israeli–Palestinian conflict by 2005 through a two-state solution to be achieved in three stages. 1 At the June 2003 Aqaba summit us President George W. Bush, Israeli prime minister Ariel Sharon, and Palestinian prime minister Mahmud Abbas committed themselves to implementing the plan, al­though Israel had expressed reservations. After almost three years of vio­lent confrontations the formal reentry to a new peace process was achieved. However, the renewed escalation of violence only one week later signaled the lack of serious commitment on all sides to implementa­tion of the plan. Consequently, the road map process has not proved to be a way out of the cycle of violence, let alone to a renewal of official peace negotiations. Nevertheless, in early December 2003 a draft of an Israeli–Palestinian peace agreement was publicly unveiled in Geneva. The so-called»Geneva Accords« had been worked out by Israeli and Palestinian politicians, civil society representatives, and experts under the auspices of Oslo architect and former Israeli justice minister Yossi Beilin and former Palestinian in­formation minister and Arafat intimate Yasir Abed Rabboh. It is a blue­print for a final status agreement that details solutions to the outstanding complex issues of Israeli–Palestinian relations. The momentum triggered by the Geneva Accords, mounting criticism of Israeli government policies – in Israeli society as well as by the security establishment – and growing international pressure on the Israeli prime minister to fulfill his country’s obligations under the road map, led Ariel Sharon to announce his own 1. A performance-based roadmap to a permanent two-state solution to the Israeli–Pal­estinian conflict by the quartet( eu , usa , Russian Federation, un ), April 30, 2003, http://ue.eu.int/pressData/en/declarations/75591.pdf. ipg 4/2004 Asseburg, Peacemaking in the Middle East 123