Swiss to move Palestinian aid office to Ramallah
The office of the Swiss Agency for Development and Cooperation (SDC) will be shifted from East Jerusalem to Ramallah.
The staff concerned have been informed, the foreign ministry confirmed on Saturday. A working group has been set up to plan the next steps. A date has not yet been set and it is estimated that the move will take a few months to realise.
The news was first reported on Friday by the Swiss daily Le Temps that wrote that the Alpine nation was finally caving into pressure from Israel. The Swiss diplomatic liaison office was moved from East Jerusalem to Ramallah in 2001 but the development office remained.
According to the foreign ministry, the location of the development cooperation office, be it in East Jerusalem or Ramallah, has no influence on Switzerland's position on the Middle East conflict. Switzerland considers East Jerusalem to be occupied territory within the meaning of international humanitarian law. The final status of Jerusalem - especially as the capital of both states - would have to be negotiated between the parties.
The location of the office would also have no impact on Switzerland's engagement in the framework of its cooperation programme on the Middle East 2021-2024.
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