Introduction:
The Swiss government has provided support for Palestinian refugees since 1948, mainly through funding relief and humanitarian aid programs of UNRWA and ICRC. However, Swiss presence in the region and direct assistance to the Palestinian people came about following the signing of the Declaration of Principles in September 1993, in Washington D.C. The prospects of a new dawn of peace in the region prompted the Swiss government along with the rest of the international community to support Palestinian development and state-building efforts as a commitment to peace building in the region.
The Swiss Cooperation Office Gaza and West Bank was established in June 1994, and since then has supported a number of different activities with multiple governmental and non-governmental partners both bilaterally and through multi-lateral cooperation. The program design and implementation is generally coordinated with all main stakeholders such as the Palestinian Authority, civil society organizations, United Nations agencies, and the World Bank as well as other like-minded donor countries.
Furthermore, as part of the Swiss Department of Foreign Affairs (EDA), the Swiss Agency for Cooperation and Development (SDC) works and coordinates with other organs of the Department within the context of the Swiss Foreign Policy Strategy for the Southern and Eastern Mediterranean Basin. This includes the development of a close cooperation with the Political Division IV in serving the Swiss foreign policy strategy for the region.
The program’s main priorities evolved, through a marked intervention in four major areas:
However, since the outbreak of the second Intifada in September 2000, the socio-economic and political context in the OPT have deteriorated to such an extent that necessitated the provision of additional humanitarian aid resources to mitigate the worsening socio-economic conditions of the Palestinian population and to safe guard development investments.
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