Foreign Minister Max van der Stoel has cast doubt on the participation of Britain, France, Italy and Holland in the Multinational Force and Observers (MFO) which is to patrol Sinai after Israel completes its withdrawal next April.
In an interview published in Het Parool, van der Stoel said the four countries are still holding consultations on Israel’s demand that they subscribe to a joint U.S.-Israel statement affirming that the Camp David accords are the sole basis for the MFO.
The Dutch diplomat made it clear that Holland, for one, would not renounce the 1980 Venice declaration on the Middle East by the European Economic Community (EEC) ministers to which Israel objected because it called for association of the Palestine Liberation Organization in the peace process.
He said Holland does not demand that Israel subscribe to the Venice declaration but is not prepared to abandon it “as the price for our participation” in the MFO. Whether or not Holland joins the international peacekeeping force will depend ultimately on Israel, van der Stoel said.
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