Alternative Middle East peace plan launched by activists in Geneva
Still, strong opposition from Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon and last-minute dissension within Palestinian ranks underscored the problems facing the plan dubbed the "Geneva accord" that resulted from two years of secret negotiations.
"It is unlikely that we shall ever see a better foundation for peace," said Carter, after receiving a standing ovation from a packed Geneva conference hall. "The people support it. Political leaders are the obstacle to peace."
Carter criticised the Bush administration, saying it had supported Israel but ignored the well-being of Palestinians. He also criticised Sharon's government for allowing the number of Jewish settlements to skyrocket.
Carter said Israelis had to ask themselves: "Do we want permanent peace with all our neighbours or do we want to retain our settlements?" Palestinians also must halt violent attacks on Israelis, he said.
Actor Richard Dreyfuss, master of ceremonies at the event, said that "peace is far too serious to be left exclusively to governments".
"People are terrified of the world they seem to be leaving to their children," he said. "(This initiative) is the people's claim to their place at the table."
The accord proposes borders between Israel and a future Palestinian state similar to Israel's borders before the 1967 Mideast war, giving the Palestinians almost all the West Bank and Gaza Strip and part of Jerusalem.
It calls for the removal of most Israeli settlements there and largely sidesteps the so-called "right of return" for Palestinians who fled or were driven out during the 1948-1949 war that followed Israel's creation and their descendants. It also divides sovereignty in Jerusalem.
The negotiators claim their work is in line with the US-backed "road map" for peace, which spells out a formula for negotiations but leaves trickier issues unresolved.
In Israel, Defence Minister Shaul Mofaz who like other current leaders opposes the initiative said the road map remained the Israeli government's "basis for the continuation of talks with the Palestinians".
Still, the Geneva plan has been welcomed by US Secretary of State Colin Powell, UN Secretary-General Kofi Annan and leaders of the EU.
Fifty-eight former presidents, prime ministers, foreign ministers and other global leaders also released a statement yesterday expressing "strong support" for the accord.
"The Israeli-Palestinian conflict has taken far too great a toll already," said the leaders most of them Western European but joined by former presidents Mikhail Gorbachev of the Soviet Union, F.W. de Klerk of South Africa and Ernesto Zedillo of Mexico.
Work toward the accord began two years ago in an academic discussion at the University of Geneva between former Israeli Justice Minister Yossi Beilin and Professor Alexis Keller. They enlisted then-Palestinian Information Minister Yasser Abed Rabbo and began talks, with financial support provided by the Swiss government.
Sharon says the plan is subversive, insisting that only governments may conduct such negotiations. His hard-line administration opposes the far-reaching Israeli concessions that are key parts of the Geneva Accord.
The Israeli Foreign Ministry protested Switzerland's backing of the plan, but the Swiss government maintains it only "facilitated" the discussions and had nothing to do with the content.
Some 200 Israelis flew by charter for the ceremony from Tel Aviv, as did 200 Palestinians from Amman, Jordan.
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