Dutch lawmakers on Saturday rejected a proposal to recognize a Palestinian state and impose sanctions on Israel amid a political crisis in the government.
The Dutch parliament did not vote to recognize Palestine, as well as a boycott of goods from the Israeli-occupied territories in the West Bank and a ban on the purchase of weapons from Israel.
The majority of MPs at the same time supported the call for the Israeli government to allow international and national journalists to enter the Gaza Strip and to apply “maximum pressure” on countries that support Hamas leaders.
The vote followed the sudden resignation of Dutch Foreign Minister Kaspar Veldkamp on Friday evening in protest at the government’s refusal to impose tougher sanctions on Israel over the humanitarian crisis in Gaza.
Veldkamp’s colleagues from the centrist New Social Contract (NSC) party also resigned on Friday.
Their departure has increased pressure on the already weak Dutch government, which collapsed in June after Geert Wilders’ far-right Freedom Party pulled out of the coalition over disputes over the country’s migration policy.
