[The text below has shared demands from all Palestine collectives in the Netherlands. There are (A) global, (B) national and (C) local demands.]
From Ceasefire to Justice: Towards A Unified List of Demands
This document serves as a guiding framework for actions across the Netherlands aimed at ending Dutch complicity in the colonial project in Palestine and ensuring accountability for all actors involved in the genocide. These actions include demonstrations, petitions, advocacy, community organizing, institutional pressure, and direct actions designed to halt Dutch support and enforce international obligations.
After a ceasefire, many, especially those newly mobilized over the past two years, may not immediately understand why action must continue. Because the focus has recently been on a ceasefire, it is essential to re-orient the Palestinian solidarity movement in the Netherlands toward short-term structural demands that address the roots of oppression, not only its latest manifestation It is also crucial to emphasize that the Palestinian cause is not a humanitarian crisis, but a political struggle for self-determination, liberation, and decolonization.
The Goals of the Global Palestine Movement
Why do we demand sanctions, boycotts, and other measures from the Dutch government? The ultimate goal of the Palestinian movement, like that of all liberation movements, is to achieve justice through the complete liberation of the land and the realization of the right of return for all refugees. To achieve this ultimate goal, it is necessary to formulate clear and attainable sub-goals. Below, we have defined five core sub-goals.
1. To End the Genocide in Gaza
1. Immediate and permanent ceasefire.
2. Ending the siege of Gaza.
3. Immediate withdrawal of the Zionist occupation army from Gaza.
4. Palestinians in Gaza must be able to determine their own future.
The killing of civilians, starvation, destruction of hospitals and infrastructure, and the use of siege as a tactic of war violate the Genocide Convention, the Geneva Conventions, and the Rome Statute. No state may support or tolerate an ongoing genocide and must do everything possible to stop and punish it.
2. To End the Occupation, Apartheid, and Colonization in Palestine
a. Immediate cessation of the unlawful dispossession of Palestinian land and property and the forcible expulsion of Palestinians in the occupied West Bank. These practices, implemented through military attacks, widespread and systematic home demolitions, and a discriminatory system of laws and policies amounting to apartheid, constitute grave violations of international humanitarian law and international human rights law.
b. Furthermore, an immediate end must be put to the structural and
state-facilitated violence of Zionist settlers, which plays a central role in the dispossession, ethnic cleansing and the forced displacement of the Palestinian people.
c. Dismantling the apartheid system and all settler-colonial structures, practices, and policies imposed by the Zionist colonial system on Palestinians.
d. Immediate dismantling of all settlements in the West Bank and Jerusalem
e. End the military occupation of Palestine.
The occupation of Gaza, East Jerusalem, and the West Bank is illegal. Settler colonialism, racial segregation, dual legal systems, forced displacement, and land theft are prohibited under international law. Apartheid is a crime against humanity. No colonial regime has legitimate legal status or a right to exist. The International Court of Justice (ICJ) has ruled that the zionist occupation and settlements are illegal and that the Zionist regime must withdraw.
3. To Secure the Release of All Palestinian Prisoners and Political Prisoners
a. Release all Palestinian children in detention and immediately end the systematic arrest, prosecution, and imprisonment of minors.
b. Amplify and support the demands of the Palestinian prisoners' movement, which is demanding its rights from within Zionist prisons and continues to fight for them.
c. Demand the immediate release and return of the bodies of Palestinian martyrs held by the Zionist regime.
d. End trials in military courts and stop the systematic use of administrative detention.
Military courts in occupied territory violate fundamental principles of justice and are prohibited under the Fourth Geneva Convention. The Apartheid regime systematically uses administrative detention as a tool to oppress Palestinians and deny them the right to a fair trial. The Zionist regime routinely arrests, detains, and prosecutes Palestinian children, often under the Zionist military law in the occupied West Bank and elsewhere—this is a violation of international law. Torture and other forms of abuse against Palestinian prisoners amount to war crimes. A legal system built on ethnic supremacy cannot deliver justice.
e. Immediately end all physical and psychological torture and abuse in Zionist prisons.
f. Grant unrestricted access for the ICRC (Red Cross) and international observers to all Palestinian prisoners, without exception.
g. Immediate independent medical and forensic investigations into abuse, torture, isolation, and medical neglect.
h. Immediately stop any application or expansion of the death penalty against Palestinian prisoners; repeal all legislation and procedures enabling the death penalty through military courts or emergency law; and guarantee internationally that no death sentence will be issued or carried out;
i. Immediate release of all Palestinian political prisoners.
4. To Realize the Right of Return for All Palestinian Refugees
a. We demand that the Netherlands commit itself to full recognition and implementation of Palestinian rights to return, restitution of land and homes, and full compensation and indemnification for all forms of aggression, dispossession, and destruction since 1947.
b. This obligation must not be limited to the scope of UN Resolution 194, but must encompass the full historical injustice and be concretely translated into reparative measures and legal liability.
This right is enshrined in:
● UN Resolution 194 (reaffirmed annually since 1948)
● Universal Declaration of Human Rights (Art. 13)
● International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights (Art. 12)
Ethnic cleansing is always legally and morally reprehensible. No just solution is possible without restoring this right.
5. To Enforce Accountability for War Crimes
a. Ensure justice for victims of war crimes, crimes against humanity, and genocide.
b. Prosecute war criminals and complicit institutions.
c. Impose legal, political, and economic consequences on all companies, institutions, and actors enabling genocide and apartheid.
International law prohibits impunity for crimes against humanity. States are obligated not only to abstain from participation, but also to prevent, punish, and dismantle the systems committing these crimes.
Urgent Actions We Demand from the Government
The Dutch Palestine solidarity movement is an extension of the struggle in Palestine. Without international support, including from the Netherlands, the Zionist entity would not be able to continue its colonization, occupation, and genocide.
To guide the movement toward clear, achievable, and immediately implementable policy measures, we formulate concrete short-term demands both at national level and for municipalities and provinces.
To make the demands easier to navigate, they are categorized by level. The order of the demands does not reflect importance, but rather what must happen.
NATIONAL LEVEL — DEMANDS TO THE DUTCH CENTRAL GOVERNMENT
1. Legal and Political
a. Official recognition that the Zionist regime is committing genocide
Recognize that the zionist regime is committing genocide in Gaza, as concluded by multiple UN bodies and international and Israeli human rights organizations.
The Geneva Conventions require states to take immediate preventive action; waiting for a final ICJ ruling is not an excuse.
b. Recognition of the Zionist regime’s oppression of Palestinians
We demand that the Dutch government officially recognizes that the Zionist regime maintains structural oppression of Palestinians, and calls this as:
i. Occupation of Palestinian territory and the denial of Palestinian sovereignty.
ii. Apartheid: a system of structural inequality, segregation, and domination.
iii. Colonization/settler colonialism: the systematic replacement of the Indigenous population through settlers and settlement policy.
iv. Expropriation and land theft through confiscation of land, homes, and resources.
v. Ethnic cleansing through forced displacement, mass expulsions, and the prevention of return.
vi. Recognize the systematic killings of journalists and advocate for open access so that international journalists can report freely and independently on the ground.
vii. Recognition and condemnation of apartheid prison and detention regime:
The Dutch government must officially recognize and publicly condemn that the zionist regime systematically arrests, prosecutes, and imprisons Palestinian political prisoners, including children, through military courts and administrative detention, and that these systems involve abuse, torture, isolation, medical neglect, and the threat of the death penalty. The Netherlands must unambiguously demand that these practices end immediately, that all Palestinian political prisoners be released, and that international organizations such as the ICRC and independent observers receive unrestricted access to all detention centers and prisoners.
c. Recognition of Basic Palestinian Rights
We demand that the Dutch government officially recognizes Palestinian rights and the nature of zionist policies, and translates this into consistent policy.
This includes:
i. Recognition of Palestinian self-determination and the State of Palestine with concrete consequences
Recognize Palestine as a state based on the right to
self-determination, a core principle of the UN Charter. At the same time, we reject symbolic recognition without real change: recognition must not serve as “window dressing” while occupation, apartheid, colonization, and genocide continue.
ii. Recognition of the right of return (UN Resolution 194) Recognize the Palestinian right of return as enshrined in UN Resolution 194. Ethnic cleansing and forced displacement are unlawful and must never be normalized.
iii. Recognition of the Palestinian right to resist occupation under international law
Recognize that Palestinians under occupation have the right to resist colonial domination, within the framework of international law.
d. Withdraw and end the use of the IHRA definition of “antisemitism”
We demand that the Dutch government withdraws and stops using the IHRA definition of “antisemitism” in policy, education, subsidy conditions, and security frameworks.
The IHRA definition conflates criticism of zionisme and the genocide/occupation of Palestine with antisemitism. This distracts from real antisemitism coming from the far-right, Nazis, populist politicians, etc., and serves to protect Israel’s genocidal and colonial agenda. Many Jewish people worldwide have therefore rejected this definition.
e. Investigation into Dutch state, corporate, and academic involvement
i. We demand an independent, transparent investigation into the involvement of the Dutch state, companies, financial institutions, and academic institutions in Israel’s occupation, apartheid, and war crimes.
ii. We therefore demand a parliamentary inquiry to expose and end complicity, negligence, and violations of state responsibility. Failure to investigate and act consistently is a violation of the state’s duty to prevent and not facilitate international crimes.
f. Legal prosecution of Dutch complicity
i. We demand that the Dutch government pursues criminal prosecution of Dutch companies, institutions, and individuals who directly or indirectly contribute to war crimes, apartheid, and genocide.
ii. This includes financial institutions (banks, pension funds, investors) that facilitate these crimes through investments, loans, or insurance services.
g. Prosecution of perpetrators and commanders (no impunity)
i. We demand full accountability and prosecution of all individuals who commit war crimes or command them, regardless of nationality or position.
ii. This also includes Zionist (IOF) soldiers, commanders, and settlers who enter the Netherlands, as well as political and military leaders
who order these crimes, such as Netanyahu, Gallant, Katz, and others.
iii. This also includes Dutch citizens who participate as settlers in illegal settlements in the occupied West Bank and are therefore jointly responsible for expropriation, violence, and forced displacement, as well as individuals and organizations that directly or indirectly finance, facilitate, or support these settlements, including organizations such as Christians for “Israel.”
h. Protection of activists and the Palestinian movement against repression We demand that the Dutch government actively protects the right to protest, including demonstrations in solidarity with the Palestinian people. Stop repressing legitimate protest through:
i. ID checks and preventive searches at demonstrations
ii. the use of surveillance and monitoring technologies (such as facial recognition, drones, or other tracking practices)
iii. disproportionate restrictions and bans on protests (such as unnecessary route restrictions, time restrictions , and “no-go zones”)
iv. criminalization and stigmatization of Palestine solidarity protesters through framing, police repression, and legal intimidation
2. Economic and Military
a. Full arms embargo (offensive and defensive)
Providing weapons to a genocidal apartheid regime constitutes material complicity.
b. Immediately stop of purchasing Israeli weapons and surveillance systems
The Netherlands must not buy weapons from a state involved in serious violations of international law.Continuing arms trade and military cooperation risks Dutch complicity in war crimes and genocide.
c. We demand that the Dutch government:
i. withdraws public investments from companies that contribute to occupation, apartheid, and genocide
ii. excludes these companies from all public procurement procedures
iii. implements active policy to prevent such companies from selling products and services on the Dutch market
iv. imposes sanctions on settlers living illegally in the West Bank and East Jerusalem
d. Impose economic sanctions on Israel
i. We demand that the Netherlands imposes broad economic sanctions on Israel as long as it continues occupation, apartheid, and genocide and continues to violate international law.
ii. This includes suspending economic cooperation and state-level trade relations so that Israel faces political and material consequences for structural human rights violations and international crimes.
3. Humanitarian
a. Unconditional humanitarian access to Gaza and the West Bank
Blocking humanitarian aid is a war crime; states are obligated to ensure access
b. Expand medical evacuation and treatment of Palestinian victims in the Netherlands
Refugees and victims of mass violence have a right to healthcare; symbolic numbers are insufficient.
c. Asylum and IND reform for Palestinians
People fleeing genocide and ethnic cleansing must not be deported or rejected.
d. Scholarships and academic mobility for Palestinians
e. Restore UNRWA funding
Cutting aid to Palestinians in need, when civilians depend on this assistance, contradicts the ICJ ruling of 26 January 2024.
f. Reject UNSC Resolution 2803 and refuse to cooperate with provisions that violate Palestinian rights
i. We demand that the Dutch government rejects UN Security Council Resolution 2803 (2025) and refuses to cooperate in implementing provisions of this resolution that violate the UN Charter and international law, including the right to self-determination.
Resolution 2803 legitimizes a model in which Gaza’s future, political, economic, and security, is placed under external control through a US-dominated “Board of Peace” and a temporary International Stabilization Force.
ii. The Netherlands must not support plans that place Gaza under foreign control or tie reconstruction to disarmament and political exclusion, which undermines Palestinian self-determination and reinforces occupation.
iii. Instead, the Netherlands must explicitly support a Palestinian-led and Palestinian-controlled reconstruction of Gaza, with direct financial support to Palestinian institutions and civil society organizations, without conditions that erode Palestinian rights, and in full compliance with international law.
4. Academic, cultural, and sports boycott
a. We demand that the Dutch government introduces the same academic, cultural, and sports boycott measures against Israel as it previously applied to Russia. This means:
i. Academic: ending all institutional cooperation between Dutch academic institutions and Israeli universities/research institutions
ii. Cultural: ending cooperation, exchange programs, and funding involving Israeli state institutions and official cultural representation
iii. Sports: actively promoting Israel’s exclusion from international sporting competitions and ending all sports cooperation as long as occupation, apartheid, and genocide continue
b. Make the Nakba and the reality of Israeli occupation part of the school curriculum
Make the Nakba, and the impact of Israel’s occupation, colonization, apartheid, ethnic cleansing, and genocide, as well as the Palestinian struggle for liberation, a fixed part of the school curriculum. For generations, children and young people have learned almost nothing about this crucial part of history and today’s ongoing reality.
LOCAL / MUNICIPAL LEVEL
At the local level, municipalities and provinces can also speak out in support of recognizing Palestinian rights and the reality of Zionist oppression. Municipalities can call on the private sector to implement boycott measures, but they can also take concrete steps themselves—for example by ending procurement of Zionist products and excluding Israeli sports clubs from municipal partnerships and events.
Points 1 through 3 apply not only locally, but also nationally.
1) Official recognition that Israel is committing genocide
Recognize that Israel is committing genocide in Gaza, as concluded by multiple UN bodies and international and Israeli human rights organizations. The Geneva Conventions require states to take immediate preventive action; waiting for a final ICJ ruling is not an excuse.
2) Recognition of Zionist oppression of Palestinians
We demand that the Dutch government officially recognizes that the Israeli regime maintains structural oppression of Palestinians, and names this as:
a) Occupation of Palestinian territory and the denial of Palestinian sovereignty.
b) Apartheid: a system of structural inequality, segregation, and domination.
c) Colonization / settler colonialism: the systematic replacement of the Indigenous population through settlers and settlement policy.
d) Expropriation and land theft through confiscation of land, homes, and resources.
e) Ethnic cleansing through forced displacement, mass expulsions, and the prevention of return.
f) Recognize the systematic killing of journalists and advocate for open access so international journalists can freely and independently report on the reality on the ground.
g) Recognition and condemnation of Israel’s military apartheid prison and detention regime.
3) Recognition of Basic Palestinian Rights:
We demand that the municipalities officially recognize Palestinian rights and the nature of Israeli policies, and translate this into consistent policy. This includes:
a) Official recognition of the State of Palestine Recognize Palestine as a state based on the right to self-determination, a core principle of the UN Charter.
b) Recognition of the right of return (UN Resolution 194)
Recognize the Palestinian right of return as enshrined in UN Resolution
194. Ethnic cleansing and forced displacement are unlawful and must never be normalized.
c) Recognition of the Palestinian right to resist occupation under international law
Recognize that Palestinians under occupation have the right to resist colonial domination, within the framework of international law.
4) Municipal boycott policy:
a) Full transparency regarding all municipal ties with Israeli or complicit institutions.
b) End cooperation and/or procurement involving Israeli companies.
c) Enter into no new cooperation and/or procurement with Israeli companies.
d) Ensure that for all direct procurement, whenever possible, municipalities call on suppliers further down the chain not to stock Israeli products.
e) Sever all institutional ties between the municipality of Utrecht and the Israeli government and complicit institutions
f) Exclusion of sports clubs from genocidal and apartheid systems
i) Municipalities must exclude sports clubs and sports organizations based in countries committing genocide, occupation, and apartheid from using municipal sports facilities for matches and events.
ii) In addition, all forms of municipal cooperation, subsidies, and facilitation, in the broadest sense, must be immediately terminated.
5) Municipal boycott call and public awareness campaign:
a) Call on local businesses to end trade with Israel.
b) Pressure educational institutions to cut ties with complicit institutions.
c) Publicly funded awareness campaign on boycotts and sanctions.
d) Call on the Province to adopt a strict boycott, procurement, and sanctions policy against states and institutions guilty of genocide, occupation, and apartheid. This must also be actively implemented through all provincial and regional executive agencies.
e) In addition, regional transport authorities such as the Amsterdam Transport Region (Vervoerregio Amsterdam) must be explicitly urged to adopt and apply this policy in tenders, contracts, and partnerships.