RAMALLAH: Prime Minister Mohammed Shtayyeh today briefed the Director-General of the Swiss Agency for Development and Cooperation (SDC), Ambassador Patricia Danzi, on the repercussions of the ongoing Israeli occupation’s aggression against the Palestinian people in the devastated Gaza Strip and the West Bank, including Jerusalem.
The meeting was attended by Maya Tissafi, Assistant State Secretary of the Swiss foreign ministry and head of the Middle East and North Africa Department, and the Swiss Representative to the State of Palestine, Anne-Lise Henin.
Shtayyeh discussed with the Swiss delegation the catastrophic and deteriorating humanitarian situation in the Gaza Strip, calling for more pressure on Israel to oblige it to stop its aggression, open all crossings with the Strip to accelerate the entry of relief and medical aid and to restore electricity and water there.
The Prime Minister praised Switzerland’s continued support for Palestine and the United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refu
gees (UNRWA) in light of the systematic attack and aggression carried out against the relief agency with the aim of dissolving it, because it represents “the collective memory of the Palestinian people and their right of return,” he said.
He also briefed the delegation on the horrific situation in the occupied West Bank, which has been witnessing an escalation of crimes and attacks by Israeli forces and colonists, including the daily incursions, killings, detentions, destruction of infrastructure, colonists’ terrorism, colonial settlement expansion and the illegal and legitimate deductions from the Palestinian Authority’s clearance funds.
Shtayyeh further called on Switzerland to recognize the State of Palestine, stressing the importance of such a step given the fact that it is the principal guarantor of compliance with international law and international humanitarian law.
Source: Palestine News and Information Agency – WAFA