Trump’s Gaza plan is “out of the question”, say the Dutch

US president Donald Trump’s scheme to remove Palestinians from Gaza and find them permanent homes in Arab countries in the region is “out of the question,” Dutch foreign minister Caspar Veldkamp said on Tuesday.

“For the Netherlands, it is beyond doubt: Gaza belongs to the Palestinians,” Veldkamp said in a statement. “Our position remains unchanged: the Netherlands supports a two-state solution. This means an independent, viable Palestinian state alongside a secure Israel.”

Germany, Spain, France, and Turkey are among the dozens of countries that earlier condemned Trump’s plan.

However, far-right leader Geert Wilders, whose PVV is the biggest party in the current coalition, said he backed Trump’s initiative. “As I have always said, Jordan = Palestine,” he said on social media. “Let the Palestinians move to Jordan and the Gaza problem is solved.”

Veldkamp was forced to reassure the Jordanian government about the Dutch position shortly after taking office last year, when Wilders said on social media that Jordan is the “only true Palestinian state.”

Dangerous insanity

Trump’s comments go “far beyond the boundaries of what is internationally acceptable,” Marcel Brus, professor of international public law at Groningen University, told broadcaster NOS.

D66 parliamentarian Jan Paternotte, meanwhile, described the suggestion as “dangerous insanity”.