The Israeli ambassador to Holland, Zeev Suffoth, has surprised the public, both Jewish and non-Jewish, by canceling a small dinner reception he was to give in honor of visiting Israeli elder statesman Abba Eban.
Suffoth apparently acted on instructions from the Foreign Ministry in Jerusalem.
Eban was here participating in a symposium on “Peace in the Middle East,” which was also attended by officials of the Palestine Liberation Organization last week.
The former Labor member of the Knesset, an outspoken dove, was warned by Foreign Minister Moshe Arens not to take part in the event, which was organized by pro-Palestinian Dutch academicians.
Eban shared the platform with Bassam Abu Sharif, political adviser to PLO chief Yasir Arafat and prominent Palestinian activists from East Jerusalem and the West Bank.
The canceled dinner, however, would have been a modest affair, attended by no more than six to eight people.
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