Foreign Minister Max Van der Stoel defended Holland’s tentative offer to participate in the Multinational Force and Observers (MFO) which will police Sinai after Israel’s final withdrawal next April. However, such participation does not mean automatic approval of the Camp David agreements, he told reporters here today.
Van der Stoel spoke in response to Arab criticism of possible participation in the MFO by members of the European Economic Community (EEC), particularly Holland. He said The Netherlands was ready in principle to supply troops to the Sinai peacekeeping force on the basis of the EEC Foreign Ministers’ 1980 Venice declaration on the Mideast.
He said that declaration stressed two principles the guarantee to all parties involved, including Israel, of secure and recognized borders and the evacuation by Israel of all occupied territories. A basic principle for The Netherlands moreover, he said, was the right of self-determination for the Palestinian people.
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.
