Middle East From a Dutch Perspective

Written By Hennie De Pous-De Jonge

The images from Gaza are unbearable. A good part of my life has been devoted to working for peace and justice, including with people from the Middle East, also in Israel. I am still in contact with a good friend I made there. Recently I sent her a message about the deadly famine in Gaza. It turned out that she had no idea. The news she got while living in Israel was that trucks with food were helping people. 

On Sunday July 27, 2025, to many people’s relief, Israel allowed food trucks of the Red Cross and other NGOs into Gaza. The relief however was short-lived. The aid did not get far, because of the unsafety of the roads. What is needed is massive and well-managed humanitarian aid; specialized treatment to the starving people, especially the underfed children; medical care; clean water and fresh vegetables; a total end to the bombing and shooting. The Palestinian people need a future perspective, which includes the end of the occupation. And the prospect of self-determination in the whole Palestinian area of Gaza and the West Bank. 

The breaks in combat, and the minimal humanitarian aid that is let through, does not mean that Netanyahu’s policy had changed. He was honest enough to declare that he only did that to silence the accusation of genocide. He was honest enough to declare that this minimal gesture did not make a difference to his strategic plan. From his statements and actions, one can only deduce that the plan is to completely deprive the Palestinians of their land.

PRESSURE IS NEEDED 

It needed outside pressure from the world for Israel to open the borders of Gaza to let some food come in. Since the government of Israel at the moment won’t listen to reason, it will need an enormous amount of united pressure from the world for the country to change its path. To come to the realization that by persisting with the present route Israel is ruining itself. Peace and prosperity will only come to Israel when it realizes that human rights apply to everyone. 

The realization that Israel is on the wrong path comes also from within the county, as was reported on July 29, 2025. Two Israeli organizations, B’Tselem and Physicians for Human Health, have studied (1) the performance of the Israeli army since October 7, 2023, (2) the systematic destruction of the Gazan health care, and (3) the statements of Israeli politicians and army chiefs about the war. These organizations state in two separate reports that Israel has purposefully destroyed the Gazan society and are guilty of genocide in Gaza. But they also consider the western world complicit, especially the US and the EU, directly by supplying weapons and indirectly by supporting Israel politically and providing the argument that Israel has the right to self-defense. 

I will focus on my own country, the Netherlands. There have been and are lots of voices over the past years that have asked, demanded, begged our government to take a stronger stand against the actions of Israel in Gaza and the West Bank. In petitions, sit-ins, many letters in the newspapers and demonstrations citizens urged our government to draw a red line. In questionnaires it turns out that 70% of the Dutch are for our government to take concrete actions against Israel. There were court cases about it. 

In fact, by end-December 2023 three civil society organizations, Oxfam/Novib, Pax and The Rights Forum, were already demanding that the state stop delivering to Israel parts for the fighter plane F35. Amnesty International helped prepare the case. They did this together with advocate Liesbeth Zegveld, who is well known in the Netherlands for having won several cases against the state. They first lost, but on appeal in February 2024 they won. The court decision was clear. The Netherlands must stop delivering parts for the F35 to Israel. The state then appealed to the High Court. Since I could not find anywhere the verdict of the High Court, I phoned The Rights Forum. Indeed the High Court has not spoken yet, but in the meantime the last verdict applies. 

Meanwhile civil society is continuing to put pressure on the present government. Recently we had, by Dutch standards, two massive demonstrations that called on our government to draw a red line. On May 18 and June 15 respectively 100,000 and 150,000 people dressed in red walked through The Hague, the UN city of peace and justice, the March of the Red Line. 

Civil servants in the Ministry of Foreign affairs continue to demonstrate on the steps of their own ministry. Quite unheard of. 

What also never happened before is that active diplomats speak out against their own minister. It started with the second man in the Dutch agency in Ramallah no longer remaining silent. He rebuked our double standards in defending the principles of international humanitarian law. History will judge us about what we did, but more about what we failed to do, he wrote. Six active diplomats support him, together with eight former diplomats. The first group takes a career risk. 

“THE RIGHTS FORUM” 

The civil society organization, The Rights Forum, was founded in 2009 by former Prime-Minister Dries van Agt, with the aim of a just Dutch and European Palestine policy, in order to create the conditions for justice, peace and equality both for Palestinians and Israelis. For safety and stability for both peoples it is necessary to tackle these causes: the occupation, the systematic colonization, the ethnic expulsion, institutional oppression, the lack of equal rights and the continuous feeling of insecurity. 

In view of the present catastrophic situation and in the run-up to the national elections in October this year, the Rights Forum has drawn up a list of 20 helpful measures that the Netherlands can take to stop genocide, apartheid and occupation, in order to build a future where the rights of all people in both Israel and Palestine are respected. 

I will end by mentioning some of the most promising measures proposed: 

  • According to the ruling of the International Court of Justice in The Hague (July 2024) the Israeli occupation of Palestinian territory is in conflict with international law. This means: no aid, trade or cooperation that maintains the occupation plus an active effort to end the illegal situation.  

  • Suspending the EU-Israeli Association treaty. This treaty gives Israel entry to the internal EU market. In exchange Israel has committed itself to respect for human rights and international law. To the credit of the Minister Caspar Veldkamp of Foreign Affairs: he had already raised this in the EU on May 20 this year and found a majority to investigate whether Israel still complied with this. It will be on the agenda again on August 29 when the EU Ministers of Foreign Affairs meet in Brussels.

  • Sanctions against colonists and politicians responsible for colonization. To the credit of the same Minister, he has sanctioned two extreme-right Ministers in Netanyahu’s cabinet. 

  • Support for Palestinian and Israeli human rights organizations

  • Substantial support for the reconstruction of Gaza

  • Support for the freedom of press and the rule of law in Israel

  • Recognize Palestine

  • Support the International Criminal Court and the International Court of Justice

  • Make international law leading, always and everywhere. Stop having double standards. 

Hennie De Pous-De Jonge

After training to be a teacher, Hennie de Pous-de Jonge worked for five years with Moral Re-Armament/Initiatives of Change in Asia, Australia and New Zealand. On her return to the Netherlands, she became editor of Nieuw Wereld Nieuws, later called Ander Nieuws, the Dutch MRA/IofC publication and since 1998 editor and webmaster of the Dutch MRA/IofC website.

Together with her husband, she has organized programs for families and youth in the Netherlands and at IofC's conference center in Caux, Switzerland. From 1980 till 1990, she held different national and local positions in the Christian Democratic Party (CDA). Since 2016, she has changed her political affiliation to the Dutch Green party.

From 1990 till 2000 she taught in a primary school in a multicultural area in The Hague. Since 2000 she has been involved in intercultural and interreligious dialogue in the Netherlands resulting in several international conferences in Caux. 

In 2005 her book, Reiken naar een nieuwe wereld -- a history, with a Dutch focus, of Initiatives of Change and its antecedents -- was published by Kok, Kampen. The book’s English version, Reaching for a New World, was published by Caux Books, Switzerland, in 2009. 

Hennie and her husband Johannes de Pous have three children and five grandchildren.

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