Geneva, Switzerland ? The gala launch of the Geneva Initiative, the unofficial Palestinian-Israeli peace plan, had it all Monday.

Slick stagecraft, a Hollywood presenter, instructive speeches by Nobel laureates, videotaped messages from concerned world leaders and poignant testimonies in Arabic and Hebrew by ordinary Israelis and Palestinians deeply distressed by the futile fighting that has ended thousands of lives.

“There will be inevitable modifications if and when (official) talks are conducted,” former U.S. President Jimmy Carter told 500 Israelis and Palestinians who were flown to Geneva on chartered jets with the support of the Swiss government, which has facilitated the plan.

But “the only alternative to this initiative is sustained and permanent violence,” Carter warned. “It is unlikely that we shall ever see a more promising foundation for peace. … People support negotiations. Political leaders are the obstacle to peace,” he said.

The Israeli government of Prime Minister Ariel Sharon has been sharply critical of the “virtual” agreement fashioned by teams of Israelis and Palestinians who worked for two years without authorization from Israel or the Palestinian Authority on the thorny issues of Palestinian refugees, the division of Jerusalem and final borders for a future Palestinian state.

Their labors produced a 50-page document, including detailed maps, which has recently been mailed to every Israeli household and widely published in the Palestinian press.

“We tried the peace from the top down and it failed,” said Palestinian Said Injas, a banker from Ramallah, who attended what the organizers called a public commitment ceremony. “Now we are trying the peace from the bottom up, by making a sound base.”

The deal envisions a Palestinian state, with minor territorial revisions, along the borders of the West Bank and Gaza Strip before Israel conquered those territories in 1967 Six Day War.

Most Israeli settlements in the territories would be dismantled under the plan.

Sovereignty in Jerusalem, which both sides claim as their capital, would be shared.

While compensation would be offered to Palestinian refugees and their descendants displaced by the war that followed Israel’s creation in 1948, there would be no unrestricted right to return to the homes they fled or were forced from.

A poll released Monday in Israel showed modest momentum building for the accord, with 31 percent in favor and 37 percent against compared with 25 percent and 54 percent respectively when it was first announced in October. Both times the margin of error was 4 percent. No similar polling has been conducted among Palestinians.

Monday’s event, hosted by actor Richard Dreyfuss, included performances by Palestinian and Israeli musicians and optimistic speeches from the accord’s brokers.

Two Nobel Peace laureates — Northern Ireland peace negotiator John Hume and former Polish President Lech Walesa — spoke of their successful efforts to resolve conflicts in their countries.

The Geneva plan has been welcomed by U.S. Secretary of State Colin Powell, U.N. Secretary-General Kofi Annan and European leaders. The Israeli and Palestinian organizers of an alternative peace plan are set to meet with Powell in Washington in the next week or so.