Yasser Abed Rabbo, head of the Palestinian delegation, together with Swiss Foreign Minister Micheline Calmy-Rey, and the chief of Israeli delegation, Yossi Beilin, (from left to right), during the signing ceremony for the Geneva Accord, in Switzerland in December 2003.
Keystone/Sandro Campardo
Switzerland is to withdraw its financial support for a conflict settlement between Israeli and Palestinian civil societies.
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Suiza suspende la financiación de la Iniciativa de Ginebra
The foreign ministry said it decided to phase out its funding by 2024 following an external evaluation, saying the Geneva Initiative was important in the beginning but its effectiveness and impact diminished over the past two decades.
It also lacked political backing both from Israel and the occupied Palestinian territory, according to a statementExternal link released on Tuesday.
Switzerland has contributed about CHF18 million ($19.7 million) to the initiative since its launch in 2003. From 2009 it gradually reduced its annual financial support from CHF1 million to CHF180,000 last year.
The Geneva Initiative led to the Geneva AccordExternal link nearly 20 years ago and is considered a reference document to show options for a two-state solution between Israel and Palestine.
The Swiss foreign ministry said it remains committed to promoting peace in the Middle East and it would allocate the funding for the Geneva Initiative to other similar efforts as of next year.
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Swiss back efforts to revive Middle East peace process
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“We are ready to contribute to this new dynamic towards a just and long-lasting peace … which is based on a negotiated two-state solution,” he declared at the opening of an international conference in Paris on Friday. France convened foreign ministers from major powers to try to put Israeli-Palestinian peace-making back on the international agenda…
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Officials at the Swiss Foreign Ministry confirmed that they had sounded out interested parties. They refused to name their contacts, but they are understood to have been in touch with – among others – Israeli, Palestinian and American diplomats. “We are not being selective in our approach. We want to contact all actors playing an…
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A senior Swiss foreign ministry official, Thomas Greminger, confirmed the existence of the so-called “Swiss document” on Thursday, which dates back to 2006. Over the past few days, former Palestinian Foreign Minister and top Hamas official Mahmoud al-Zahar and Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas, who is also known as Abu Mazen, have publicly discussed the existence…
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