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On Friday, Switzerland confirmed that that the Palestinian authority has formally signed up to the Geneva Conventions. Switzerland is the international guardian of the treaty, which sets down all regulations on humanitarian operation and warfare in conflict zones in the world.
Spokesman for the Swiss Foreign Ministry Pierre-Alain Eltschinger has said that the Palestinian Authority had declared itself a part of the conventions on April 2. Switzerland had formally registered to the application on Thursday. The move is a part of President Mahmud Abbas’ new diplomatic drive after the peace talks with Israel seem to be on the verge of collapsing.
Abbas said that he received a letter from Swiss President Didier Burkhalter, confirming the Palestinian registration, and praised it as “an historic day for the Palestinian people”, according to a senior Palestinian official. Palestine had earlier pledged to freeze all attempts to seek membership in any UN organization or international convention, which would be seen as a major stepping stone in their mission to seek statehood. In return, Israel was to release veteran Arab prisoners. Meanwhile, Israel had made a new proposal to expand its settlements in the occupied territories.
The original Geneva Convention was created in the 19th century under the protection of the International Committee of the Red Cross in Switzerland. The convention was recast later after the Second World War. In the decades that followed, many optional protocols were added to the convention, which took into account the latest realities of war and the growing impact of war on civilian personnel.
Including the Geneva Convention, Palestinian authorities had also submitted requests to the UN to join a total of 13 international treaties and conventions, including the Vienna Convention on diplomatic relations, the convention against torture and the convention on the rights of the child; on Thursday, the UN confirmed the legality of their requests.
