The EU has been unable to reach a common position on the Middle East conflict because of the Netherlands’ pro-Israel stance, German magazine Spiegel reports.

For a week the European diplomats accredited at the United Nations in Geneva had been working on a statement about the status of human rights in Israel and the occupied Palestinian territories, Spiegel states.
The last version of the text was well-balanced and condemned Palestinian terrorist action and Israel’s blockade of the Gaza strip, the magazine says.
Objections
‘Just one hour before the official debate began in Geneva, the Netherlands’ representative reported that his country could not back such a resolution… The corrections obviously came directly from the Dutch ambassador’s boss, foreign minister Uri Rosenthal, who is known for his pro-Israeli policies,’ Spiegel said.
Spiegel points out that Rosenthal is Jewish, though not religious, and is married to an Israeli woman.
The Dutch objections included references to a ‘two-state solution’. Nor did the Netherlands ‘want any mention of Israel’s arrests of peacefully demonstrating human rights activists or their destruction of homes in the West Bank and East Jerusalem that forced the affected Palestinians to resettle elsewhere.’
For the Spiegel report, click here