Dutch Foreign Minister Maxime Verhagen has told his Israeli counterpart Avigdor Lieberman that halting construction of Jewish settlements in the Palestinian Territories is a prerequisite for any lasting peace agreement in the Middle East. Mr Verhagen also urged that more humanitarian aid be allowed into the Gaza strip.

The Israeli foreign minister is on a short visit to the Netherlands today before he travels to Denmark. Mr Lieberman said he wants to resume peace talks with the Palestinians, but Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas has stressed that no further dialogue can take place unless the building of settlements is halted.

The visit to the Netherlands by the far-right Israeli foreign minister has drawn criticism from Dutch Labour Party MP Martijn van Dam. The Labour Party is a member of the ruling coalition, but Mr Van Dam joins the opposition in criticising government policy on Israel and the Palestinians.

Mr Lieberman, who heads the ultranationalist Yisrael Beiteinu party, has repeatedly made racist remarks about the Palestinians. Mr van Dam has criticised Mr Verhagen, a member of the Christian Democrats, for being prepared to offer a welcome to the controversial Israeli minister, when he turned down an official visit from the Dalai Lama earlier this year.

The Labour MP also equates talking to Mr Lieberman with talking to the radical Palestinian group Hamas, a step the government refuses to take. The other coalition parties, the Christian Democrats and the Christian Union, categorically reject the comparison. They say it is only logical that Mr Verhagen should receive a democratically foreign counterpart. They also claim that since his election Mr Lieberman has become more moderate.