Representatives of Holland’s 25,000 Jews and its nearly halfmillion Moslems vowed in front of television cameras here that events abroad such as the Persian Gulf war will not affect their harmonious relations in this country.
The occasion was a Jan. 29 meeting here of representatives of Jewish and Moslem organizations to demonstrate that the two communities can live peacefully together and bear no grudges.
Neither politics nor the Gulf war were discussed at the gathering, which was dedicated to removing mutual prejudices that might exist.
A statement issued later said, “There are no problems between Jews and Moslems in the Netherlands. The war abroad in which groups are involved that are also represented in Dutch society need not be continued here.”
Dutch Jewry was represented by the Foundation for Jewish Social Welfare; CIDI, the Center for Information and Documentation on Israel; and Ashkenazic, Sephardic and Liberal congregations.
The Moslems, who number about 450,000 in Holland, were represented by organizations of Turks, Moroccans and Surinamese. Suriname, on the northeast coast of South America, is a former a Dutch colony also known as Dutch Guiana.
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