The Netherlands on Sunday cancelled a tour of the country by a forum of Israeli mayors because their group included representatives of West Bank settlements.

The professional delegation, funded by the Joint Distribution Committee, a Jewish-American charity, was supposed to fly to the Netherlands next month to study public policy and local governance.

But when the Dutch Foreign Ministry found out that regional council heads from the Judea and Samaria regions – including from the West bank settlements Efrat and Kiryat Arba - were due to participate, they decided to cancel the tour.

Open gallery view Local Councils Head Shlomo Buchbut on March 8, 2010. Credit: Tess Scheflan

The Israeli Foreign Ministry responded in a statement: "This is undoubtedly useless and harmless politics, and we hope that this is not the final word on the topic."

Aryeh Eldad, a Knesset member from the hard-right National Union party, condemned the decision, saying:

"The Dutch surrender to the Arabs reflects their surrender to the Muslim minority that is growing steadily in Holland, which in itself is an echo to Netanyahu's surrender to Obama regarding the building freeze."

Eldad added: "If Netanyahu has in effect defined the borders of the state and placed a extended chokehold on hundreds of thousands of Jews – no one can come to the Netherlands with complaints over its surrender to its large minority – as long as Israel continues to surrender and act as if it is still in the Diaspora."

Local Council Chairman Shlomo Buchbut spoke with the Dutch ambassador and wrote to the Dutch foreign minister, saying that he regarded the decision "with great severity".

"The Local Councils are led by mayors from all over the political spectrum for Israel's citizens. These kinds of actions only hurt the cause of advancing peace. We need to support Israel's citizens just as they are, and not to ignite political debates," Buchbut said.

"In the past, we have conducted similar trips to Denmark, France and China. We cooperate with the European Union, Arabs, Jews and Europeans to talk about common professional interests and we advance local councils in general," Buchbut added.

He concluded: "The decision by the Netherlands puts the [Israeli-Arab] conflict before anything else. I hope that the Dutch will change their minds."