Netherlands Rules Out Recognizing Palestinian State
The Dutch government has ruled out recognizing a Palestinian state at this time, despite growing public concern over the humanitarian situation in Gaza.
Officials stated that the ongoing war in the region is undermining both Israel's security and its national identity.
During an emergency parliamentary session on Gaza, Dutch Foreign Minister Caspar Veldkamp made it clear that the
Netherlands
has no current plans to recognize Palestinian statehood. Lawmakers were recalled from their summer recess as public pressure mounted over the escalating crisis.
The Dutch position
contrasts
with several other NATO countries. France has pledged to formally recognize a Palestinian state in September, while the United Kingdom has indicated it will follow suit if Israel fails to agree to a ceasefire and take concrete steps to ease the severe humanitarian conditions in Gaza, where hunger is spreading rapidly.
Veldkamp also dismissed calls to suspend arms imports from Israel, stating that the Netherlands prioritizes domestic and EU-based suppliers before considering third-party countries.
However, he noted that the government has already taken significant measures, including issuing travel bans on two Israeli ministers.
The foreign minister emphasized that the conflict has shifted from a defensive war to one that now threatens Israel's long-term security and identity.
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Egypt Independent
36 minutes ago
- Egypt Independent
The US and Europe are still doing billions of dollars' worth of business with Russia despite years of war
US President Donald Trump is threatening an additional 25% tariff on India as well as higher tariffs on other countries that buy Russian oil, in an attempt to pressure Moscow to end the war in Ukraine. But the United States and Europe themselves are still doing billions of dollars in trade with Russia – although that's a fraction of the trade that took place before the war. India has argued that it's being unfairly targeted with the tariff increase, calling it 'unjustified' given that other nations also do business with Moscow. Trade between Russia and the US has fallen by about 90% since the Kremlin launched its full-scale invasion of Ukraine, but last year, the US still imported $3 billion worth of goods from Russia, according to the latest data from the US Bureau of Economic Analysis (BEA) and Census Bureau. Meanwhile, the European Union – which has been the Americans' partner in sanctions against Russia – imported $41.9 billion (36 billion euros) of goods from Russia in 2024, data from the bloc's statistics agency shows. 'It's significant, but I think the more significant thing is how quickly the EU adjusted to reduce their dependency on Russia,' said Kimberly Donovan, director of the Economic Statecraft Initiative at the Atlantic Council, a DC-based think tank. 'They're making huge strides to further reduce how much they're getting from (Russia).' EU imports from Russia dropped by 86% between the first quarters of 2022 and 2025, according to Eurostat data. A view of a processing plant at the fertilizer company EuroChem VolgaKaliy, which is developing a potash deposit in Russia's Volgograd region, in September 2024. Kirill Braga/Reuters 'I do think that there is a lot of opportunity for the US and even the EU to increase our trade with countries like Canada and get the products that we need from them,' Donovan added. 'That's where the trade wars and the negotiations over tariffs are really throwing things for a loop and are reducing our ability to be strategic in how we're approaching the Russia problem.' As Trump prepares to meet Russian President Vladimir Putin in Alaska Friday, a top US official warned that India could see more tariffs coming their way if the talks don't go well. 'We've put secondary tariffs on the Indians for buying Russian oil. And I can see if things don't go well, then sanctions or secondary tariffs could go up,' US Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent told Bloomberg. These are the areas where economic ties with Russia remain the strongest, for the US and Europe respectively. US trade with Russia: • Fertilizer: The US imported $927 million worth of fertilizer in the first half of this year, US Census Bureau data shows. Last year, fertilizer imports from Russia totaled more than $1 billion. The US particularly relies on Russia for imports of three types of chemical fertilizers: urea, urea ammonium nitrate (UAN) and potassium chloride muriate of potash, also called potash. 'Unless the US sanctions Russian fertilizer imports, as it does with Belarusian potash, this (level of trade) is likely to continue,' said Allan Pickett, head of fertilizer analysis at S&P Global Commodity Insights. 'Russia remains one of the most important global fertilizer suppliers and the influence of it has not diminished since 2022.' 'Urea and potash could be readily sourced from elsewhere, although with potash it would further increase US dependence on Canada, which currently has an interesting trade dynamic,' Pickett added. The Trump administration recently hiked tariffs on Canada to a minimum of 35% –unless goods are compliant with the terms of the US-Mexico-Canada free trade agreement – escalating ongoing trade tensions with its northern neighbor. • Palladium: Although palladium imports from Russia have reduced significantly since 2021, data shows that the US still imported $878 million worth of the metal in 2024 and $594 million worth in 2025, through June. The silvery metal is used in various electronic and industrial products and it's a key component in the catalytic converters of cars. • Uranium and plutonium: The US has imported $755 million worth of uranium and plutonium from Russia so far this year, according to Census data through June. It imported $624 million worth of those commodities from Russia in 2024. A ship carrying Russian liquefied natural gas (LNG) unloads gas in the port of Bilbao, Spain, on March 10, 2022. Vincent West/Reuters European trade with Russia: • Oil: Russia was the largest supplier of petroleum to the European Union prior to Moscow's full-scale invasion of Ukraine. The EU has since imposed a ban on maritime Russian oil imports, as well as refined oil products, like diesel. As a result, oil imports to Europe fell to $1.72 billion (1.48 billion euros) for the first quarter of 2025, down from $16.4 billion (14.06 billion euros) in the same quarter of 2021, according to the most recent data from Eurostat. The top European importers of Russian fossil fuels in July 2025 were Hungary, France, Slovakia, Belgium and Spain, according to an analysis by the Centre for Research on Energy and Clean Air, an international research organization. Hungary and Slovakia accounted for the vast majority of crude oil imports, according to the analysis, while the others import mostly liquefied natural gas. • Natural gas: The value of natural gas imports from Russia actually increased in the last four years as a result of price increases, growing to $5.23 billion (4.49 billion euros) in the first quarter of 2025, Eurostat data shows. However, the EU has slightly reduced Russia's market share of liquefied natural gas imports since 2021 – from 22% down to 19% in 2025 – while also greatly increasing the US market share. • Iron and steel: Russia's share of iron and steel imports in the EU has dropped sharply. Iron and steel imports amounted to $850 million (730 million euros) in the first quarter of 2025 – about half of what they were in the same quarter in 2021, according to Eurostat. • Fertilizer: Sanctions and import duties have not hit the fertilizer industry, and as a result, European imports of Russian fertilizer have changed very little since 2021. In the first quarter of 2025, EU countries imported $640 million (550 million euros) of Russian fertilizer, data shows. • Nickel: The EU has diversified imports to rely more on nickel from the United States, Norway, the United Kingdom and Canada. Still, the bloc imported $300 million (260 million euros) worth of nickel from Russia in the first quarter of 2025. Nickel is primarily used to make stainless steel and other alloy steels, as well as batteries. A view inside a plant at Russia's Nornickel company, the world's leading nickel and palladium producer, is seen in August 2021 in the Arctic city of Norilsk. Tatyana Makeyeva/Reuters Hundreds of Western firms still in Russia Beyond imports and exports of commodities, many Western companies remain entrenched in Russia. Some notable American-based holdouts continue to operate in Russia, including top 100 companies, according to lists compiled by the Yale School of Management and the Kyiv School of Economics Institute. Dozens of European businesses, including consumer-facing brands, retailers and software companies, have also remained in Russia. The amount of tax revenue that Western companies generate for the Kremlin is relatively small, but analysts say the companies that remain have allowed aspects of normal life to continue for the Russian population. Corporate exits serve to bring the war closer to the Russian people and confront their 'complacency,' as well as make it more difficult for Putin to paint a picture of a well-functioning economy, said Yale School of Management's Jeffrey Sonnenfeld, whose large team of researchers keeps track of which companies have left. 'It's an imploding market – it was never an economic superpower to start with – which is just a lot of smoke and mirrors, a lot of bravado on the part of Putin to try to create an aura of something bigger,' Sonnenfeld told CNN. India's and China's energy imports In contrast to the reduction in trade with Moscow seen in the United States and EU, India imported $67 billion worth of goods from Russia in 2024, according to data aggregated by the United Nations. Roughly $53 billion worth of that was petroleum oils and crude oil. Before the full-scale war, in 2021, India imported $8.7 billion worth of goods from Russia. India's imports of Russian oil and gas have skyrocketed since before the war began. Russian oil now makes up 36% of the Indian market, according to Vortexa, an energy data firm, meaning it imports more crude oil from Russia than from anywhere else. China has also ramped up purchases of Russian crude oil following Moscow's full-scale invasion of Ukraine in 2022. Its price fell after Western countries sharply scaled back their imports of Russian fuel. Russia now accounts for 13.5% of China's crude imports, according to Vortexa. China imported roughly $130 billion in Russian goods in 2024, including $62.6 billion of petroleum oils and crude, the UN-aggregated data shows.
Egypt Independent
36 minutes ago
- Egypt Independent
Israel's West Bank settlement plan could ‘bury' the prospect of a Palestinian state. Here's why
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In a statement, it said, 'We are standing at the edge of an abyss, and the government is driving us forward at full speed. There is a solution to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict and to the terrible war in Gaza – the establishment of a Palestinian state alongside Israel – and it will ultimately come. The government's annexation moves are taking us further away from this solution and guaranteeing many more years of bloodshed.' Ir Amim, an Israeli organization that monitors developments in and around Jerusalem, warned that Jewish settlements of E1 would permanently entrench Israel's occupation of the West Bank, creating an 'Apartheid reality.' It would also cause a 'rapid and severe deterioration' in economic and social conditions for Palestinians that would lead to greater instability and violence. British foreign minister David Lammy said the UK 'strongly opposes' the plans, which he described as 'a flagrant breach of international law.' 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'We remain focused on ending the war in Gaza and ensuring Hamas will never govern Gaza again, freeing the hostages, including the remains of two Americans, and facilitating the delivery of critically needed humanitarian assistance,' the spokesperson said. Is what Israel is doing legal? Israeli settlements in the West Bank are considered illegal under international law. The United Nations reinforced that designation in 2016 with Security Council resolution 2334, which declared that Jewish settlements in occupied territory are a 'flagrant violation' of international law and have 'no legal validity.' But that resolution, and many others going back decades, have done little to stop Israel's expanding settlement enterprise, which has grown rapidly under US President Donald Trump. During the first Trump administration, the State Department reversed longstanding US policy and ruled settlements were 'not inconsistent' with international law. The Biden administration left this policy in place. Following the Hamas-led October 7 attack on Israel, its government has dramatically accelerated the growth of settlements. In May, Israel approved the largest expansion of Jewish settlements in the West Bank since the signing of the Oslo Accords more than 30 years ago. The security cabinet said it would establish 22 new settlements, including some deep within the West Bank and in areas from which the country had previously withdrawn. A spokesman for the Palestinian Authority denounced the plan as a 'dangerous escalation and a challenge to international legitimacy and international law.'
Egypt Independent
2 hours ago
- Egypt Independent
Egypt prepares for Gaza's transitional phase, proposing a temporary administration
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