THE HAGUE, 14/11/03 - The conservatives (VVD) are furious with the Labour (PvdA) MPs, who do not intend to support a motion on Moslem schools after all. VVD MP Ayaan Hirsi Ali has accused the PvdA of playing "A dirty game. "

Hirsi Ali recently introduced a motion calling on the cabinet to impose conditions to be met by new Islamic schools. The Pim Fortuyn List (LPF), socialists (SP) and PvdA backed the motion, yielding a majority. On Wednesday evening, the PvdA announced its decision to withdraw its support, so that the motion will be rejected next Tuesday.

PvdA will submit its own motion concerning integration in schools, as the MPs have "reached the limits of discussion" with the VVD. The PvdA does not want only Moslem schools to be called to account for their contribution to integration. "This was not actually specified in the motion, but the VVD allowed this general impression to arise," PvdA MP Jeroen Dijsselbloem explained.

VVD MP Eric Balemans called the withdrawal of PvdA support a "cheap trick to camouflage an internal conflict. " Hirsi Ali was also furious. "This is no way to treat each other. " She denied that no more discussion was possible with the VVD about the text of her motion, which specifies among other things that Islamic schools may not be mono-ethnic, that they must include the holocaust and homosexuality in their lessons, and that the school governors must be Dutch.

Hirsi Ali is still prepared to discuss amendments to her own motion within the VVD parliamentary party, in order to bring back PvdA support, but the probability of this seems very remote. VVD parliamentary leader Jozias van Aartsen also stated that his party did not feel inclined to alter the motion "to solve the PvdA's internal problems. "

Hirsi Ali will not support the PvdA motion in any event. She objects to the provision that school governors may be foreigners as long as they have followed an integration course, which she does not consider a guarantee that they speak Dutch. A Moslem school may also consist of a single population group, as far as the PvdA is concerned, provided this is a reflection of the district.

Christian democrat (CDA) Education Minister Maria van de Hoeven advised "for 100 percent" last week against persevering with Hirsi Ali's motion, on the grounds that it eroded the constitutional freedom of education. She is also advising against the toned-down PvdA motion. The minister called it "A sensitive point" that the PvdA requires all schools to accept children whose parents endorse the principles of the school. The coalition manifesto specifies that this obligation to accept children may not be introduced, which means the probability of the PvdA motion being adopted is also practically zero.