Mideast - AFP
Dutch FM speaks out against targeted killings on visit to Israel: report
Date: Wed, Mar 31, 2004
JERUSALEM (AFP) - Dutch Foreign Minister Bernard Bot spoke out against Israel's policy of targeted killings, saying last week's assassination of the Hamas spiritual leader Sheikh Ahmed Yassin was against international law, an Israeli paper said.
"We consider targeted killings contrary to international law, and in my view a country like Israel, a true democracy, should not act like this," the website of the Jerusalem Post daily quoted him as saying.
His comments were made at a joint press conference in Jerusalem with his Israeli counterpart Silvan Shalom.
The minister also pointed out that although Israel had the right to defend itself from militant attacks, the vast security barrier it is building in the West Bank should follow the 1948 Green Line dividing Israel from the Palestinian territories, the paper said.
The international community has frequently criticised the barrier for jutting into deep Palestinian land.
Israel says the barrier is essential for preventing the infiltration of militants, but the Palestinians see it as a blatant land grab and an attempt to pre-empt the borders of their future state.
Bot also described Israel's ongoing settlement activity in the Palestinian territories as "not always helpful" but said that the Netherlands understood "the nuances of the problem", the paper said.
An official from Prime Minister Ariel Sharon (news - web sites)'s office confirmed that Bot also met late Wednesday with the premier, but did not give any details of what was discussed.
The foreign ministry was not immediately available to comment on the content of the meeting with Shalom but earlier said talks were likely to centre on the stalled peace process with the Palestinians, the regional situation and ties between Israel and the Netherlands, which is to take over the rotating presidency of the European Union (news - web sites) on July 1.
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