Dutch PM set to visit Israel and Palestine next week ahead of Israeli elections
Dutch Prime Minister Mark Rutte announced plans to visit Israel and the Palestinian territories during the final run-up to elections in Israel. Rutte will visit the region on Monday and Tuesday, with the legislative election scheduled one week later. Aside from political meetings, Rutte will meet business leaders with Dutch interests, Holocaust survivors, and Palestinians involved in the peace process.
The Knesset was dissolved at the end June, and Yesh Atid party leader Yair Lapid took over as the country's caretaker prime minister. Lapid will hold a bilateral meeting with Rutte on Monday afternoon. The Dutch leader will then sit down with Benny Gantz, who leads the National Unity party and currently serves as the defense minister.
At night, Rutte will meet one on one with Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas. The following day, he will also join former prime minister and current opposition leader, Benjamin Netanyahu. He leads Israel's largest Likud party, which saw a surge of public support in April that has since tapered off as Yesh Atid recovered in opinion polls.
The Dutch prime minister's trip will start with a lunch, where Rutte will meet the top executives of some Israeli companies which operate in the Netherlands. He will also be joined by a delegation of Dutch business leaders whose companies operate in Israel.
After his meeting with Gantz, and before his dinner with Abbas, Rutte will also visit the Beit Mozes nursing home in Jerusalem. Among the residents of the nursing home are Dutch Jewish people who survived the Holocaust.
The government press office said, "The visit is dedicated to maintaining close ties with both Israel and the Palestinian Authority and the importance the government attaches to the Middle East Peace Process." The morning after his conversation with Abbas, Rutte will have breakfast with "two Palestinians committed to a peaceful solution to the conflict."
He will also visit a Dutch initiative called Orange Corners which is located in Ramallah. The project stimulates entrepreneurship and start-ups with a goal of improving employment opportunities for young people in the area.
