In today’s papers, a drugs war forces a Dutch mayor into hiding; Geert Wilders is due to address the ultra right in Israel; Immigration Minister Gerd Leers is forced to show his true colours; MPs vote to reverse cuts in HIV funding, and why ice makes the Dutch so happy.

Drugs war forces mayor into hiding
De Telegraaf headlines with “Drugs war in South”, after the mayor of the southern town of Helmond went into hiding with his family yesterday. The paper reports on a series of incidents in the province of North Brabant, which include shootings that left two people dead, a grenade attack on a coffeeshop (where cannabis is sold 'legally' in the Netherlands), and a machine gun attack on a house belonging to an ecstacy baron.

According to Trouw, the incidents, which have intensified in the past two weeks, are connected to the trade in soft drugs. The mayor of the Eindhoven - also in Brabant - Rob van Gijzel says the situation is “untenable”. He has approached Security Minister Ivo Opstelten (himself a former mayor) to set up a temporary police working group to tackle drugs crime.

The governing coalition parties, the conservative VVD and the Christian Democrats, want to increase police powers so that towns can be sealed off and people searched. The Freedom Party of Geert Wilders wants to send in the army “to prevent bullets flying past the ears of the public”, says De Telegraaf.

Mayor van Gijzel has long campaigned to legalise the “back door” of the drugs trade (production and supply). At the moment the only aspect of the soft drugs' trade that is offically tolerated in the Netherlands is the sale of marijuana and cannabis to consumers through the “front door”. AD reports that so far the minister has declined to support Mr Van Gijzel's idea of a trial involving the legal production of cannabis.

Wilders to address Israel’s ultra right
Freedom Party leader Geert Wilders is to address a conference organised by the ultra-right Hatikwa party in Israel on 5 December, writes Trouw. According to his Twitter messages, the Dutch anti-Islam MP will call for a pure Jewish state that includes the West Bank – one of the Palestinian territories. Mr Wilders refers to the West Bank by using Old Testament names Judea and Samaria, which are also used by Jewish settlers.

The more Jewish settlements built in this region the better, it seems. The controversial politician believes the Palestinians already have their own country, Jordan, and that all Palestinians should move there. The idea is not new, writes the paper, the ultra-right in Israel already use this as an argument why the West Bank should be given to the settlers.

Geert Wilders has been invited to speak in Israel by Arje Eldad, leader of Hatikwa and Knesset member. In 2008, he received a standing ovation for his film Fitna at a party conference. In Israeli daily Ha’aretz Mr Eldad says: “He supports our programme. He thinks a Palestinian state on the West Bank is an existential threat to Israel.”

In the lead-up to Mr Wilders’ visit, copies of a speech from 2008 are being circulated in Hebrew, in which he says Israel is taking the blows meant for the West. He calls the Israeli-Palestinian conflict a conflict between the free West and the barbarism of Islam.

Geert Wilders’ love of Israel goes back to his teenage years when he spent time at a kibbutz. But Israel is also a source of sponsors, writes Trouw. Emails from organisations in the United States are being circulated to raise funds for his court case. His Freedom Party, however, does not disclose where its funds come from.

Immigration minister shows his true colours
In parliament yesterday Immigration Minister Gerd Leers promised not to prosecute 'good Samaritans' who help illegal immigrants. Although he does intend to make it possible to prosecute people for being in the Netherlands illegally. The minister says the measure is being taken to help tackle crime.

On Trouw’s forum page, a Christian Democrat councillor writes there are 8,000 illegal immigrants in south-east Amsterdam, most of them hardworking, law-abiding, god-fearing people.

The councillor calls for separate status to be conferred on those 'illegals' who speak Dutch, work and have been in the country for more than ten years. He wonders why tough measures are being taken now, whilst illegal immigration has been tolerated for so long in the past.

He also points out that the success of the Netherlands' Golden Age (the 17th century) was thanks to the many refugees and illegal immigrants who came to Amsterdam at that time.

Freesheet De Pers highlights the case of 14-year-old Sahar who faces possible deportation. The teenager came to the Netherlands at the age of four when her parents fled the Taliban in Afghanistan. She currently attends grammar school. If made to go back to Afghanistan, she will not be able to finish her education and fears being picked out by the Taliban because she is too westernised and does not speak Afghan.

Today's de Volkskrant writes, “The true Gerd Leers has stood up” - tough on illegal immigration and charitable towards refugees. However, a D66 democrat-party MP says he is just being tough for the sake of the Freedom Party (which is providing the current coalition with it's one seat majority in parliament) and charitable for the sake of his own Christian Democrats (one of the two parties in that coalition).

MPs vote to undo cuts to AIDS charities
Yesterday was World AIDS Day and far from promising more money to save lives the Dutch government announced last Friday that it would be slashing tens of thousands of euros earmarked to fund HIV/AIDS charities. The AIDS Fund and Stop AIDS Now say the cuts will cost 180,000 lives. De Volkskrant reports that the most successful programmes for drugs users and prostitutes in Asia and the former Soviet states will have to be stopped as a result.

Development Minister Ben Knapen announced last week that the Netherlands would be taking a step back because there are enough other countries involved in combating AIDS and HIV. The Netherlands would in the future concentrate on hunger, water and security. It would also play a greater role in public-private initiatives. In response to the comments from AIDS charities, the minister said: “It is difficult discussing cuts when that is translated directly into the number of human lives in danger.”

Apparently so, because yesterday in parliament a large majority of MPs voted to undo the measure. A group of MPs will help the coalition look into where money can be found to continue supporting the work of the Dutch AIDS charities.

Ice 'freedom' makes Dutch happy
It is freezing cold in the Netherlands, both de Volkskrant and Trouw print photos on their front pages of six oridnary people wrapped up in hats and scarves. Nrc.next opts for a full page photo of two people wearing skates on a frozen lake and asks why ice makes the Dutch so happy? The answer is - apparently - it is one of the great levellers of society.

Since 'time began' rich and poor have skated side-by-side through the Dutch landscape, it seems. “It is free space without rules, true freedom,” says Paul Snabel, head of the Netherlands Institute for Social Research.