Switzerland has cancelled a conference on the application of the Geneva Conventions to the occupied Palestinian territories for want of participants, four diplomatic sources told Reuters, after some countries expressed dissatisfaction.

The country had invited 196 parties to the conventions to participate in the March 7 conference in Geneva on the situation of civilians living in the West Bank, Gaza and East Jerusalem, but then told them the gathering had been cancelled.

The conference was set to address the Fourth Geneva Convention, part of a series of international treaties agreed in 1949 after World War Two, which defines humanitarian protections for civilians living in areas of armed conflict or occupation.

The Palestinian ambassador to the United Nations in Geneva, Ibrahim Khraishi, told Reuters earlier that his delegation did not plan to attend the event, criticising a draft document circulated among participants.

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