Initiative calls for recognition of the State of Palestine
Keystone-SDA
A coalition of civil society, NGOs and politicians have launched a popular initiative for Switzerland to officially recognise Palestine as a state.
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The initiative has 18 months to collect 100,000 signatures to force a referendum on the issue.
+ Why Switzerland doesn’t recognise a Palestinian state
The initiative calls for recognition of the State of Palestine as a sovereign and independent state, according to a press release from the “Palestina Yes!”. Seventy-six years after Switzerland recognised the State of Israel, recognition of the State of Palestine is “an indispensable condition for building a just and lasting peace in the Middle East that respects the equal rights of all peoples living on the same land”, the initiative says.
Such recognition would also be consistent with Switzerland’s support for a two-state solution. Today, the suffering of the Palestinian population in Gaza is immeasurable,” points out surgeon Pietro Majno-Hurst, a member of Swiss Healthcare Workers Against Genocide, quoted in the press release.
Majority of states
Nearly 80% of UN member states recognise the State of Palestine. Recently, 11 Western states, including France and the United Kingdom, took the step. But the Federal Council “stubbornly refuses”, the committee laments.
+ Israel’s war in Gaza and how the humanitarian crisis unfoldedExternal link
So far, the government has always argued that the time has not yet come. “We will commit ourselves to the establishment of a Palestinian authority with a view to the creation of a Palestinian state,” Ignazio Cassis told Swiss public radio RSI on Monday evening, when asked about recent developments in Gaza following US President Donald Trump’s peace plan.
Translated from French with DeepL/mga
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