The scheduled visit to Israel next month by Dutch Premier Rudolf Lubbers and Foreign Minister Hans van den Broek has been postponed indefinitely, it was announced here Wednesday. The official reason given is conflicting agendas.
Lubbers announced at his most recent news conference last week that he would make the trip during the third week in May, when Israel will be celebrating the 40th anniversary of its independence.
He said the foreign minister would accompany him in order to convey to the Israeli government Holland’s objections to the way it is handling the Palestinian unrest in the West Bank and Gaza Strip.
Originally, Lubbers planned to go alone, returning a January 1986 visit to the Netherlands made by Shimon Peres, who was prime minister of Israel at the time.
But Dutch opinion has been running strongly against Israel since the Palestinian unrest began. Members of Parliament have urged that Lubbers cancel his trip because he would be the only head of a European Community member state to participate in Israel’s 40th anniversary festivities.
According to Wednesday’s announcement, the trip was postponed because Peres will be in Washington during the third week of May and alternate dates proposed by the Israelis conflict with van den Brock’s plans to attend a meeting of the U.N. Disarmament Commission in Washington.
The Archive of the Jewish Telegraphic Agency includes articles published from 1923 to 2008. Archive stories reflect the journalistic standards and practices of the time they were published.
