A Bethlehem-based NGO focusing on nonviolent resistance to the Israeli occupation hosted the Swiss Ambassador to the Palestinian Authority.

A delegation from the Holy Land Trust took the ambassador on a tour through areas of the mid-West Bank city that are now confiscated, and those enclosed, by the Wall. Beit Jala to the west, and just up the hill from Bethlehem, was included, as were Bethlehem District villages further to the southwest.

What does this mean after the Swiss Ambassador met with Salah Ta'amari, the Governor of the Bethlehem District, who spoke of the siege on Bethlehem, the attacks, the effects on tourism, and the destruction of the economy? The Swiss pledged more support.

The ambassador also met with the Director of SOS, the Save our Souls orphanage. At the SOS the Director and the children told their stories. Residents whose lives have been destroyed by the Wall told theirs. The ambassador called for two states, condemned the Israeli Wall and settlement expansion for contradicting hopes of two states, and paid homage to the friendship between the Palestinian and Swiss peoples.

Representatives from the Holy Land Trust said that the visit comes within the framework of a series of visits organized by the NGO for politicians, jurists and diplomats, to look into the conditions of the Palestinian people and their suffering due to the ongoing Israeli attacks.