On Wednesday, both parties again faced each other in court in an emergency app procedure, after in December the ten organizations such as Al-Haq, Somo, the Nederlands Palestina Comitee and the Foundation. Another Jewish sound, baking sheet achieved with their demands. In summary proceedings, the judge ruled that the Netherlands does not have to make any more than already happening to prevent genocide and Israeli war crimes in the Palestinian territories. And also that it is not up to court, but to the state to determine foreign policy.
Appeal
The organizations appealed against that decision. The urgency has only grown now that Israel hassle staring of Palestinians as a weapon, Netanyahu has started an offensive to fully take over Gaza city and the violence by settlers on the West Bank has increased, said lawyer Alberdingk Thijm.
In concrete terms, the organizations demand a stop on the export of military goods, measures against companies that do business with companies in illegal settlements and stopping the export of dogs by the Fourwinds PoliceDog Center. According to the claimants, those dogs are used as a weapon against Palestinians.
‘Hollow political explanations’
According to Alberdingk Thijm, the Netherlands is wrongly hiding behind the EU and in practice is limited to ‘hollow political explanations’.
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Landsadvocaat Veldhuis thinks very differently about that. According to him, the Netherlands is doing what it is possible, but it is much more effective to increase the pressure on Israel in a European context. “Diplomatic and political efforts may not seem to be of much weight in the perception of the public. They are in international traffic,” said Veldhuis.
With the ten organizations, the State finds the situation in the Gaza Strip “catastrophic and the suffering of the civilian population not to be managed”, but according to the national lawyer it is not up to the ten organizations – or to the judge – to prescribe the cabinet what the policy with regard to Israel should look like.
The Court will rule in a few weeks.