Israel gives Dutch envoys in Ramallah 7 days to return diplomatic documents over ban on West Bank settlement goods

Israel has given Dutch diplomats working in the West Bank city of Ramallah seven days to return their Israeli-issued diplomatic documents, Foreign Minister Gideon Sa’ar said Sunday, in response to a Dutch ban on trade in goods from Israeli settlements.

Sa’ar said the Dutch Embassy in Israel was informed of the decision on Sunday evening.

After the deadline, the diplomatic privileges and immunities Israel grants the diplomats will expire, he wrote on US social media company X.

“If the Netherlands wishes to continue representing its interests with the Palestinians, it may do so from Palestinian Authority territory,” Sa’ar said.

He linked the decision to a Dutch order that took effect last week banning the import, purchase, and sale of goods from Israeli settlements in the West Bank. The Dutch government says its measure, effective Sept. 22, covers goods from settlements in the occupied Palestinian territories and also prohibits services facilitating such trade.

The foreign minister said Israel had removed a Dutch delegation from an international support center for Gaza in Kiryat Gat last month following other Dutch government measures against Israel.

The Dutch ban on importing, purchasing, or selling goods from Israeli settlements took effect on Sept. 22.

Israeli media previously reported that some products made in settlements in the occupied West Bank had been presented as originating within Israel’s pre-1967 borders to circumvent similar European bans.

There was no immediate comment from Dutch authorities on Israel’s decision.

The Dutch measure followed an announcement on Sept. 14 by 12 countries—France, Britain, Canada, Denmark, Finland, Iceland, Ireland, Norway, Poland, Portugal, Spain, and Sweden—that they intend to impose trade restrictions on Israeli settlements.

They also called on Israel to immediately halt settlement expansion and occupier violence.

Israel’s current government says that since taking office in late 2022, it has approved 104 new settlements, while 160 agricultural settlement outposts have been established in the West Bank.

The UN has repeatedly affirmed that Israeli settlements in occupied Palestinian territories are illegal under international law, warning that they undermine prospects for a two-state solution.