Israel-Palestine conflict casts shadow on Dutch Labour and Greens congress

The Dutch Labour (PvdA/S&D) and Green (GL/EU Greens) parties tried to show unity at their joint party conference on Saturday after cracks appeared following divergent reactions to the current crisis between Israel and Palestine

The party conference took place in the run-up to next month’s national elections, where the two parties will present a joint list led by former EU climate chief Frans Timmermans, who left Brussels in July to vie for the position of Dutch Prime Minister.

Before Congress, 102 members from both parties had tabled a motion calling on their leadership to refrain from harsh criticism of the Hamas attacks while taking a more critical stance towards Israel. However, after consultation with the group, the parties’ leaders managed to draft a new motion that focused on the humanitarian situation in Palestine while still condemning the terrorist attacks.

“We have been working on a text that our left-wing friends in Israel and our left-wing friends in Palestine can support,” Labour MEP Kati Piri said of the motion.

The final, amended motion called on the Dutch government to “[…] push hard for international and regional initiatives for de-escalation, humanitarian access, preventing a negative spiral of violence, ending the illegal occupation of the West Bank and working towards a lasting peace through a just two-state solution with equal rights for all populations”.

Ultimately, the motion was adopted with overwhelming support, with 96% of those voting in favour.

The frictions between the two parties reflect similar developments in other European leftist groups. Just last week, the French Socialist Party announced a “time-out” from the left-wing alliance NUPES due to its discontent with the reaction of fellow member party La France Insoumise (LFI) towards the Hamas terror attacks.

The parties’ lead candidate, Timmermans, who had recently been the object of criticism for his reaction to the Hamas attacks, shied away from putting his weight behind either side involved in the conflict, preferring to focus on the humanitarian fallout of the crisis.

“We must continue to navigate between extremes in a conflict strongly dictated by emotions that seem instinctively eternal. But let the following three words penetrate us deeply […]: children are dying,” he stated during the congress.

Timmermans elaborated on his remarks in an interview with Dutch television programme Buitenhof on Sunday, saying: “Israel must be guaranteed by us that it can live within secure borders, and Palestine must be guaranteed by us the prospect of a state.

The former climate chief also criticised the EU’s failure to anticipate a potential reignition of the conflict.

“Everyone, including the European Union, thought: it has never been safer there. […] We were lulled to sleep, and Hamas has now taken advantage of that in the most horrible way,” Timmermans stated.

Green lawmaker withdraws from candidate list

Despite attempts at reconciliation between the two parties, GL MP Kauthar Bouchallikht withdrew her candidacy for the upcoming elections, complaining that her party had failed to consider the context of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.

“This ‘war’ did not start suddenly, it has been going on for 75 years. Now is the time for context. Context is not denying the horrific acts of Hamas last weekend. Context is recognising where they came from, namely the actions of the Israeli government, even against the wishes of many Israelis and Jewish people,” she said in a post on Instagram, adding, “This is no longer the party I want to be an MP for”.

The joint Labour-Green list is currently polling at 24 seats, third behind outgoing Prime Minister Mark Rutte’s VVD (26) and newcomer NSC (28), led by MP Pieter Omtzigt.

(Benedikt Stöckl | Euractiv.com)