Prime Minister De Wever: “Images from Gaza are no longer to see, this must stop”

De Wever went to The Hague on Tuesday evening for his first official bilateral meeting with Dick Schoof. The two were talking about « what we can mean together in the world, » said the Belgian Prime Minister afterwards during a press conference. This concerns, among other things, persistent support for Ukraine in the war with Russia, but also about the situation in the Palestinian Gaza Strip there is a « constructive dialogue » between the Netherlands and Belgium, it sounded.

This concerns, among other things, the plan of French President Emmanuel Macron to recognize the Palestinian state in the margin of a UN conference in June. Within the federal government, CD&V and Les Engagés are the pressure to go along with it, but there is not yet a consensus, De Wever indicated. « We look at that with great interest, but will have to make that decision within the government. » The Dutch government « looks at » also Macron’s plan, said Schoof.

In any case, the situation in the Gaza Strip is « no longer for everyone to see, » De Wever said. « The only possible human response to those images is that this should stop. » According to the Prime Minister « Europe thinks about initiatives to bring both parties back to the job of international justice and it also broadcasts those signals, » but that assignment is not easy.