US actor Richard Dreyfuss to host launch of Geneva Initiative

GENEVA (AFP) Nov 26, 2003
US actor Richard Dreyfuss will host the launch of an alternative Middle East peace plan in Geneva next week before a rare audience of celebrities, business heads and ordinary people from both sides of the conflict, officials said Wednesday.

The 56-year-old acted in Stephen Spielberg's 1975 "Jaws" as well as the science fiction tale "Close Encounters of the Third Kind".

"Richard Dreyfuss will run the ceremony," said Ghaith Al Omari, a representative from the Palestinian delegation who helped to draft the so-called Geneva Initiative.

Monday's ceremony, which is due to last two hours, will attract about 700 people, including 200 from the Israeli and Palestinian sides, representing "all sectors of civil society," said Daniel Levy, an official from the Israeli delegation.

Among the participants from Israel would be members of parliament, former officials from the security services, artists, writers and even a celebrated chef "provided you let us have him back," Levy quipped at a news conference.

The same sort of diversity was expected from the Palestinians.

A song had even been written for the occasion, said Levy.

The Geneva Initiative aims to demonstrate that a negotiated settlement to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict remains possible after three years of the intifada.

But its chances of avoiding the fate of so many other initiatives which have bitten the dust remain slim amid a climate of distrust on both sides and its main impact may instead be pressuring Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon.

WAR.WIRE