The European Union is looking at ways to revive and promote Yossi Beilin’s ‘Geneva Initative’. The European Commission's head of External Relations Chris Patten said Monday that the EU would look at any requests to fund the promotion of the so-called Geneva Accord in an "open manner."
In a Brussels speech, Patten praised the "courage and farsightedness" of Yossi Beilin and PLO member Yasser Abed Rabbo. He also called on Arab governments to back the plan.
Although no formal request for funding has yet been made the EU has indicated that funds could be made available from coffers reserved for “civil society projects.”
"Once we have a majority [backing the accord] no government - not the Israeli nor the Palestinian - would be able to ignore such a majority", Yossi Beilin told journalists. Beilin stated that "we are on the verge of getting the majority" and encouraged the European Union to financially back the plan.
One of the initial financial backers of Beilin’s plan was the Swiss government. Switzerland is now facing some harsh internal criticism in response to the government’s decision to involve itself in the internal affairs of the State of Israel through funding and facilitating the ‘Geneva initiative.’
Swiss Foreign Minister Micheline Calmy-Rey came under fire Tuesday from members of Switzerland’s parliament and a group called the Swiss Taxpayer Association, led by the Swiss Popular Party, the country’s second-largest political force. “The support of the so-called Geneva initiative is a waste of taxpayers’ money,” the association’s president, Alfred Heer, said at a press conference in Zurich two weeks ago. He argued that the backing of the private initiative harmed relations between Israel and Switzerland. Heer said that Switzerland’s government spent upwards of $6 million to support and promote the Geneva Initiative.
Alessandro Delprete, the spokesman for the Swiss foreign minister, told the Jewish Telegraphic Agency that the Swiss government had indeed funded the accord, but claimed the price tag was lower than what Heer claimed. “We spent just a little more than $1 million,” he said. Heer countered claiming that the Foreign Ministry supported the initiative indirectly as well, through humanitarian organizations such as the Henri Dunant Foundation. “This contradicts the Swiss Constitution and the so-called Swiss neutrality,” Heer said.
“By supporting the initiative, the Swiss foreign minister harmed the reputation and political and economic interests of Switzerland,” said Christoph Moergeli, a prominent MP. “I will push for this issue to be discussed in Parliament,” Moergeli told the JTA. “It is absolutely inadmissible that Switzerland interferes in a foreign conflict without the support of all parties in conflict. This is a slap in the face of the freely elected government of Israel.”
“The initiative of the foreign minister, Mrs. Calmy-Rey, can certainly not be seen as ‘Swiss solidarity with Israel,’ as she put it,” wrote Arthur Cohn, a film producer and prominent Jewish leader from Basel ini a recent op-ed for IsraelNationalNews.com. “There is no doubt that the Foreign Ministry has, in secret negotiations, been supporting, both financially and logistically, unauthorized Israeli private initiators whose views are far removed from the Israeli political center,” Cohn continued. “At the same time, the Foreign Ministry has been knowingly forgoing any cooperation with the Israeli government, even to the point of not informing the Israelis of their intentions.”
He concluded with a question about Jura, a Swiss region where a political group recently talked about seceding from Switzerland to become part of France.
“How would Switzerland react if, without the knowledge of the Swiss government, a foreign minister of another country had invited a handful of Jura separatists to his country to take part in secret negotiations over a period of time, offering financial and logistical sponsorship to thrash out a settlement deal for a new canton of Jura?” he asked.
In a Brussels speech, Patten praised the "courage and farsightedness" of Yossi Beilin and PLO member Yasser Abed Rabbo. He also called on Arab governments to back the plan.
Although no formal request for funding has yet been made the EU has indicated that funds could be made available from coffers reserved for “civil society projects.”
"Once we have a majority [backing the accord] no government - not the Israeli nor the Palestinian - would be able to ignore such a majority", Yossi Beilin told journalists. Beilin stated that "we are on the verge of getting the majority" and encouraged the European Union to financially back the plan.
One of the initial financial backers of Beilin’s plan was the Swiss government. Switzerland is now facing some harsh internal criticism in response to the government’s decision to involve itself in the internal affairs of the State of Israel through funding and facilitating the ‘Geneva initiative.’
Swiss Foreign Minister Micheline Calmy-Rey came under fire Tuesday from members of Switzerland’s parliament and a group called the Swiss Taxpayer Association, led by the Swiss Popular Party, the country’s second-largest political force. “The support of the so-called Geneva initiative is a waste of taxpayers’ money,” the association’s president, Alfred Heer, said at a press conference in Zurich two weeks ago. He argued that the backing of the private initiative harmed relations between Israel and Switzerland. Heer said that Switzerland’s government spent upwards of $6 million to support and promote the Geneva Initiative.
Alessandro Delprete, the spokesman for the Swiss foreign minister, told the Jewish Telegraphic Agency that the Swiss government had indeed funded the accord, but claimed the price tag was lower than what Heer claimed. “We spent just a little more than $1 million,” he said. Heer countered claiming that the Foreign Ministry supported the initiative indirectly as well, through humanitarian organizations such as the Henri Dunant Foundation. “This contradicts the Swiss Constitution and the so-called Swiss neutrality,” Heer said.
“By supporting the initiative, the Swiss foreign minister harmed the reputation and political and economic interests of Switzerland,” said Christoph Moergeli, a prominent MP. “I will push for this issue to be discussed in Parliament,” Moergeli told the JTA. “It is absolutely inadmissible that Switzerland interferes in a foreign conflict without the support of all parties in conflict. This is a slap in the face of the freely elected government of Israel.”
“The initiative of the foreign minister, Mrs. Calmy-Rey, can certainly not be seen as ‘Swiss solidarity with Israel,’ as she put it,” wrote Arthur Cohn, a film producer and prominent Jewish leader from Basel ini a recent op-ed for IsraelNationalNews.com. “There is no doubt that the Foreign Ministry has, in secret negotiations, been supporting, both financially and logistically, unauthorized Israeli private initiators whose views are far removed from the Israeli political center,” Cohn continued. “At the same time, the Foreign Ministry has been knowingly forgoing any cooperation with the Israeli government, even to the point of not informing the Israelis of their intentions.”
He concluded with a question about Jura, a Swiss region where a political group recently talked about seceding from Switzerland to become part of France.
“How would Switzerland react if, without the knowledge of the Swiss government, a foreign minister of another country had invited a handful of Jura separatists to his country to take part in secret negotiations over a period of time, offering financial and logistical sponsorship to thrash out a settlement deal for a new canton of Jura?” he asked.