Switzerland has invited 196 states that have signed Geneva Conventions to be part of high-level meeting on March 7, focusing on the humanitarian crisis in the Israeli-occupied Palestine territory. The announcement was made as West Bank tensions escalate following Israel’s forced displacement of thousands of Palestinian residents.
The Swiss Foreign Ministry replied positively to a request from the United Nations General Assembly (UNGA) to convene the meeting in Geneva under the auspices of the Fourth Geneva Convention. A international treaty born in 1949, it establishes the civilian protection in conflict areas.
Israel’s Minister for Defence, Israel Katz, this week instructed military forces to prepare for a ‘prolonged stay’ in the West Bank with a policy agreement that cleared camps will remain off-limits to displaced residents for the next year. This step has further raised global worries about the growing threats of annexation and the deteriorating humanitarian situation. 
Just as a ceasefire in Gaza holds after 15 months of ruinous conflict that resulted in over 45,000 Palestinian dead, a relatively new set of developments in the West Bank has attracted increasingly international attention. Switzerland has also organized the ACT Alliance in 1999, in 2001 and in 2014: the country plays on a ‘neutral middleman’ role in international humanitarian issues.
The expected gathering will tackle legal duties, humanitarian assistance activities, and potential diplomatic actions to save civilian lives in the occupied lands.
