Recognition of Palestine a ‘leverage best used later’: Swiss foreign minister

"Recognising Palestine is a symbolic and political act that can give hope", said Cassis. Keystone / Peter Klaunzer

For the Swiss government, the time has not yet come to officially recognise Palestine, said foreign minister Ignazio Cassis. The government is thus maintaining "the consistency of its line" and allowing Switzerland "to play a role that is different from the mainstream", Cassis said.

The government has analysed the advantages and disadvantages of official recognition of Palestine, Cassis told Swiss public radio RTS on Wednesday evening. It wants to maintain consistency, that is, that it has a priori recognised Palestine with the recognition of a two-state solution. “The question is not if, but when”, said the foreign minister.

+Get the most important news from Switzerland in your inbox

“Recognising Palestine is a symbolic and political act that can give hope”, he added. “But it is better to keep this leverage available when the time comes: when a peace plan is on the table, so that we can give a major incentive.”

‘Different role from the mainstream’

This stance also allows Switzerland “to play a different role from the mainstream, a role that has always been Swiss, namely that of organising everything that needs to be done for this kind of discussion”, said Cassis. He added that, if Switzerland wants “to be useful to the world, the best solution is the one that the government has chosen”.

On Monday, several countries, including France, recognised the state of Palestine at the opening of the 80th UN General Assembly in New York.

‘Conditions must be met’

In New York, Karin Keller-Sutter, who holds the rotating Swiss presidency this year, echoed Cassis’ comments.

“Switzerland’s position has always been consistent. We have always said that we are in favour of a two-state solution, with the 1967 borders”, said Keller-Sutter, explaining that this recognition could only take place if “certain measures are implemented”.

+ Petition for recognition of Palestine handed over in Bern

“There are conditions, such as the autonomy and self-determination of the Palestinian people or the security of the state of Israel, that must be met before an autonomous state can be recognised. This is also the position of the Swiss parliament”, she said.

Translated from French with DeepL/gw

How we work

We select the most relevant news for an international audience and use automatic translation tools to translate them into English. A journalist then reviews the translation for clarity and accuracy before publication.  

Providing you with automatically translated news gives us the time to write more in-depth articles. The news stories we select have been written and carefully fact-checked by an external editorial team from news agencies such as Bloomberg or Keystone.

If you have any questions about how we work, write to us at [e-mail]

News