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Impact of Palestinian Issue Increasing in Holland
By
Khaled Shawkat, IOL Netherlands correspondent
THE
HAGUE, April 21 (IslamOnline & News Agencies) - An upcoming
lawsuit against the Dutch government that “broke Dutch law and
constitution” in its military cooperation with Israel could be a
sign indicating an increasing impact of the Palestinian issue in the
Netherlands, especially with the appearance of the Palestinian issue
in the Dutch elections’ speeches.
In
an interview with IslamOnline, Benji DeLevi, head of the committee of
defending the Palestinian people, Palestina Komite, said that his
organization will take its protest against the Dutch government’s
attitude toward the Palestinian issue to court, by filing a lawsuit
against the government.
DeLevi,
who is also Jewish, said that the Dutch government has been breaking
the law for more than five decades in many ways, including selling
highly developed weapons to Israel to be used in deterring actions
against the Palestinian civilians in refugee camps and occupied towns.
“The
U.S.-made Apache airplanes used by the Israeli army in its last
campaign in the West Bank and Gaza to destroy homes and kill civilians
are functioning with an electronic systems made by known Dutch
companies that sold it to Israel with the approval of the Dutch
government,” he added.
The
Dutch cabinet resignation over a report on the 1995 Srebrenica
massacre was one of the most important elements encouraging the
committee to condemn the government on a higher level, as there
is no difference between the Palestinian civilians killed by the
Israeli soldiers in Nablus and Jenin and the civilians killed in
Srebrenica, DeLevi said.
“The
government that was condemned for not protecting Bosnians is also
blamed for facilitating the mission murders in Palestinian territories
by providing them with weapons, regardless of the fact that the Dutch
law forbid the selling of arms to regions of conflicts and wars,” he
added.
Delevi
also said that the committee of defending the Palestinian people,
founded in the seventies by a group of Dutch Leftists activists, is
currently working on mobilizing human rights and civil society
organizations to adopt the lawsuit that will be filled at the Hague
preliminary court and to pressure the political elite obstruct any
upcoming arms deals between the Netherlands and Israel.
The
Netherlands, which enjoys its role as a center for international
justice and host of the United Nations Tribunal in The Hague, is
having its elections in May and this may be an opportunity to take
some promises from candidates to stop arms deals with Israel.
The
importance of the Palestinian issue in the upcoming elections was
already noticed when the head of the Dutch leftist party began his
first speech in his electoral campaign by assuring his party’s
support to the Palestinian people and condemning Israeli aggression in
the Palestinian towns.
The
Netherlands, which has been the most supportive state to Israel in
West European countries, is now witnessing a change in its bias
foreign policy along with a more understanding position toward the
Palestinian rights.
This
shift is due to the increasing role of the Muslim minority in
political fields, in addition to the activities of organizations, such
as the Committee of Defending the Palestinian People, and Palestinian
communities in the Netherlands.
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