World leaders past and present gave strong backing yesterday for an unofficial Middle East peace plan. As its authors, self-proclaimed moderates from both sides of Palestinian-Israeli divide, launched the plan at a packed ceremony in Geneva, senior figures from around the globe called it a ray of hope in one of the most intractable conflicts. "The Palestinian-Israeli conflict has taken far too great a toll already. Both peoples have paid dearly in lives and livelihood in a war which both are losing," declared a statement signed by 58 leading politicians, including many former presidents and prime ministers. However, thousands of Palestinians protested against the blueprint in refugee camps in Gaza and the West Bank, calling it a "sell-out" and branding its Palestinian supporters "traitors". The "Geneva Initiative", co-authored by former Palestinian minister Yasser Abed Rabbo and former Israeli government minister Yossi Beilin, mandates the removal of most Jewish settlements in Palestinian areas and splitting Jerusalem into the capitals of Israel and a new Palestinian state. The roll-out of the plan came amid an upsurge of diplomatic efforts to halt the violence, but it also coincided with fresh bloodshed with Israeli forces killing four Palestinians and arresting 30 more in the West Bank yesterday. **PHOTO CAPTION*** Head of the Palestinian unofficial delegation, Yasser Abed Rabbo (R), and Yossi Beilin, during the launch of an unofficial Swiss sponsored Middle East peace plan, dubbed the Geneva Initiative, in Geneva December 1, 2003. (REUTERS/Vincent Kessler)