Swiss conference on occupied Palestinian territories cancelled due to lack of participants

Event due to start on Friday would have brought together representatives from 196 signatories of Geneva Conventions to discuss plight of civilians in West Bank, Gaza and East Jerusalem

Muslim worshippers gather at the Dome of the Rock in Al Aqsa Mosque compound in Jerusalem. AP

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Switzerland has cancelled a scheduled international conference to discuss the protection of Palestinian civilians in the occupied territories due to a lack of participants, the Swiss Foreign Ministry said on Thursday.

The conference, which was to convene on Friday, would have brought together representatives from the 196 signatories of the Geneva Conventions to discuss the plight of civilians in the West Bank, Gaza and East Jerusalem. But a “lack of consensus” among the contracting parties during talks led to the decision to call off the event.

It was set to focus on the Fourth Geneva Conventions, an international treaty established in 1949 that outlines humanitarian protection for civilians in areas affected by armed conflict or those under occupation.

“Profound differences between the high contracting parties to the Geneva Conventions emerged during an extensive consultation process,” the ministry stated. “Switzerland, as the depository state, therefore concluded that a significant number of the high contracting parties did not support such a conference and has decided against holding one."

Several other countries felt unable to fully endorse a proposed declaration as a prerequisite for attending the conference.

The cancellation comes amid escalating tension in Gaza that has sparked concern over the stability of the fragile ceasefire.

After a resolution was passed by the UN General Assembly in September last year, Switzerland was given the responsibility of organising the conference.

The neutral country engaged in detailed consultations with the parties to outline the conference's framework and draft a final declaration. The Swiss Foreign Ministry confirmed invitations had been extended to all parties, including Israel and Palestine.

But the proposed conference was met with controversy. Israel has criticised the event, calling it “part of the legal warfare against Israel” and condemning what it perceives as “a one-sided narrative” driving the conference's agenda.

"The Swiss decision to convene the High Contracting Parties at this sensitive juncture demonstrates that this conference serves merely as another platform to attack Israel, a democratic country, and embolden terrorist organisations that have shown utter disregard for humanity and the law," said Israel Foreign Ministry in a statement on social media.

The conference has been convened by Switzerland three times, in 1999, 2001 and 2014. But it was the first time a delay of six months had been fixed by the UN National Assembly to Switzerland, said Franz Perrez, head of the directorate of international law at the Swiss Federal Office of Foreign Affairs.

"We sent out invitations for the conference but then realised that there was not the critical mass nor the necessary consensus for it to make sense to organise a conference," Mr Perrez told a press conference in Geneva on Friday.

He declined to say how many countries were willing to participate, nor to comment on the position of individual countries. But he hinted that fewer than half of the 193 invitees had registered. "If we are not even at half, then it's not a critical mass," he said.

"Nobody questioned the relevance, the importance nor the applicability of the Fourth Geneva Convention in occupied territories and East Jerusalem," Mr Perrez added. "But when we discussed certain concrete measures about how to enforce its respect, then differences were too important to find the necessary consensus."