Geneva Centre director exposes pro-Israel lobby efforts to shift Swiss stance on Palestine cause

The Director of the Geneva Centre for Democracy and Human Rights Anouar Gharbi revealed efforts by pro-Israel lobbies to influence the official Swiss position, which he said remained balanced towards resolving the Palestinian-Israeli conflict. This was in order to liquidate the Palestinian cause from the point of condemning its resistance factions as “terrorist organisations”.

Gharbi explained in an exclusive interview with Arabi21 that these efforts, which: “Seek to exploit the dangerous escalation carried out by the Israeli occupation forces against the Gaza Strip and the international solidarity influenced by the Israeli propaganda are facing great difficulties from a number of political and parliamentary forces and civil society organisations in Switzerland.”

What the Israeli occupation is committing today in the Gaza Strip are war crimes and crimes against humanity that violate all international laws related to human rights. Cutting off electricity and water for around 2.2 million residents is a collective punishment rejected by all international human rights laws. In these circumstances, Switzerland’s position as the defender of human rights does not allow it to side with one party or another, especially since Palestine is living in a war by all standards.

OPINION: Turning terrorists into ‘heroes’

Gharbi pointed out: “Switzerland’s involvement and alignment with the Israeli occupation and some Western countries loyal to it, which have taken hostile positions against the Palestinian people and their political forces, does not serve neither the required peace in the Middle East nor Switzerland’s international role in consolidating the values of respect for human rights in the world, especially that Switzerland is the sponsor of the Geneva Conventions and the guarantor of their implementation, while Israel violates these conventions on a daily basis.”

There is no doubt that the ongoing developments on the ground between Palestinians and Israelis require the international community, led by Switzerland, to play an active and decisive role in preserving the rights of civilians and preventing a long war. A war with catastrophic results for the humanitarian situation in the Middle East.

Gharbi warned: “Western support in general for Israel in its war against the Palestinians will not go unaccounted for in international courts.”

He added: “Switzerland will remain one of the countries closest to respecting human rights, and we will work in partnership with supporters of justice and human rights in this country, especially in order for Switzerland to play a key role in protecting international justice and not engaging in supporting Israeli military operations against Palestinian civilians as these operations amount to war crimes.”

OPINION: Israel is likely to give the Palestinians just two options: forced population transfer or genocide