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argo being imposed against The Netherlands. 101 It is possible that Yamani
was bluffing, but it is certainly true that some Arab countries accused
The Netherlands at the time of giving military support to Israel. On
October 16, the Dutch Ambassador in Damascus, J. van Hoeve, reported
that the Syrian authorities were accusing the Royal Dutch Airlines, klm,
of being involved in the transport of weapons to Israel. He was summoned
for a hearing with Vice-Minister A. Rafai, who ‘wanted to draw attention
to the fact that, according to Syrian intelligence, fifteen aircraft
loaded with weapons and ammunition had departed from Schiphol’. 102 A
day later, Van Hoeve stated specifically that it was supposed to have been
Galaxy aircraft involved. This could only refer to the American airforce.
The Dutch Foreign Ministry informed their Ambassador that the Minister
had learned with displeasure ‘of continuing Syrian accusations against
The Netherlands on the basis of completely unfounded rumours concerning
arms supplies to Israel’. Van der Stoel was also to make his displeasure
clear to the Syrian Ambassador. 103
There were more indications that Arab states suspected something.
During a conversation on October 17 with four Arab Ambassadors, according
to the report of that meeting, Van der Stoel had to defend himself
against accusations of arms transports. 104 In fact, it is rather remarkable
that the Arab countries have never publicly accused The Netherlands of
arms deliveries. There were, however, sufficient other grounds for accusing
The Netherlands of adopting a pro-Israeli attitude.
European Political Cooperation
On October 12, the war issue was for the first time raised in the Dutch
Council of Ministers. Meanwhile, the Dutch position was becoming
more difficult. klm was already openly suspected of having transported
persons and materials. During this Cabinet session the question of possible
Arab oil sanctions was aired for speculation. Van der Stoel still had no
indication that the oil supply was to be restricted, but assumed that the
risk of this happening was very real if the war were to escalate.
On the same day, in Copenhagen consultations were being held within
the Comité Politique of the Director-Generals for Political Affairs
(dgpa) of the nine ec countries. The dgpa’s considered the question of
whether a declaration by the Foreign Ministers over the war was called
for. This meeting took place within the framework of the European Political
Cooperation (EPC) gathering of European Foreign Ministers. 105 A
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