Israel has revoked the diplomatic status of Dutch staff posted in Ramallah, in the occupied West Bank. The announcement came on Sunday night from Foreign Minister Gideon Sa'ar, who gave the diplomats seven days to hand back the diplomatic documentation issued by the Israeli government.
Without those papers, the staff of the Netherlands' Representative Office to the Palestinians lose the privileges Israel grants — which are, in practice, what allows them to move between Israel and the occupied territories.
"If the Netherlands wishes to continue representing its interests with the Palestinians, it may do so from Palestinian Authority territory, rather than from the territory of the State of Israel," Sa'ar said.
What triggered the retaliation
The cause is a Dutch trade measure that took effect on 22 September: a ban on importing, buying and selling goods produced in Israeli settlements in occupied Palestinian territory, including the brokerage services that facilitate that trade. Trade with Israel within its internationally recognised borders remains unaffected.
The distinction is deliberate — the ban targets what comes out of the settlements, not the Israeli economy as a whole — but Israel treated it as a hostile act. "Israel will not ignore measures intended to harm it," the foreign minister said. "Any country that acts in a hostile and unilateral manner against Israel will lose influence and relevance in the region."
Not the first friction with The Hague
Last month Israel had already removed a Dutch representative from the international Gaza support centre in Kiryat Gat, also over the settlement ban.
Britain, Canada and France announced similar restrictions on settlement trade earlier in September. According to UPI, those measures followed Israel's tenders for 1,234 housing units in the E1 area of the West Bank — the stretch that, once built up, separates the northern and southern halves of Palestinian territory.
The Dutch Foreign Ministry had not commented on the Israeli decision by the time the reports consulted here were published.
With information from Al Jazeera, UPI and The National.
