Norway–Palestine relations

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Norwegian-Palestinian relations
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Palestine

Palestine has a diplomatic mission in Oslo, while Norway has a representative office in Al-Ram. As of the 22nd of May, 2024, Norway has pledged to recognize the state of Palestine on the 28th of May. [1]

History

The Labour Party, the ruling party in the 1940s, held a pro-Israel position. For the majority of non-Socialist and Christians Norwegians, the new Jewish state represented the realization of the Prophecies of the Old Testament. [2] Norway was described as the most pro-Israel of the three Nordic countries. [2] However, Labour's support for Israel was not indisputable, as in 1945 the party considered the establishment of a Jewish state to be "not possible and unfair". The party's proposal for the Jewish problem was non-Zionist, assimilating Jews into their respective European countries. [2]

After Knut Frydenlund became foreign minister in 1973, he played a crucial role in promoting Palestinian demands early in his political career. However, in 1974, Norway was among eight states voting against granting the PLO observer status in the United Nations General Assembly.

Norway helped orchestrate the Oslo Accords. For the signing of the Oslo Accords, the Norwegian Nobel Committee awarded the 1994 Nobel Peace Prize.

To communicate better with the PLO headquarters in Tunis, Norway also established an embassy in the Tunisian capital. [3]

In May 2017, a militant who took part in the 1978 Coastal Road massacre, where 38 Israeli civilians, including 13 children, were killed, was commemorated on a women's center by an agency of the Palestinian Authority. The center was built with the aid of the government of Norway and UN Women. [4] Norway's Foreign Minister demanded that Norway's funding for the building be repaid and its logo removed from the building. He said that "Norway will not allow itself to be associated with institutions that take the names of terrorists in this way". [5] [6] [7]

In June 2022, the Norwegian government announced the start of labelling products from settlements following the EU approach. [8]

On 27 October 2023, Norway was one of 121 countries to vote in favor of a General Assembly resolution calling for an immediate ceasefire to the fighting between Israel and Gaza. [9] In November, Prime Minister Jonas Gahr Støre rejected the Israeli aggression on Gaza and stated that it violated international laws of war, affirming the Palestinians' right to self-defense. [10]

On 16 November 2023, the Norwegian Parliament, the Storting, approved a resolution that calls on the government to be ready to recognise Palestine as an independent state. [11] On 23 December, Støre strongly criticized Israel's warfare. He added that the Gaza Strip is now virtually without any hospital, "This means that more than 2 million people who have an urgent need for medical assistance are in a critical situation, which we cannot accept." And it risks losing any solidarity as a result of the 7 October attack. [12]

Related Research Articles

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Fatah, formally the Palestinian National Liberation Movement, is a Palestinian nationalist and social democratic political party. It is the largest faction of the confederated multi-party Palestine Liberation Organization (PLO) and the second-largest party in the Palestinian Legislative Council (PLC). Mahmoud Abbas, the President of the Palestinian Authority, is the chairman of Fatah.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Palestinian Authority</span> Interim government in Western Asia

The Palestinian Authority, officially known as the Palestinian National Authority or the State of Palestine, is the Fatah-controlled government body that exercises partial civil control over West Bank areas "A" and "B" as a consequence of the 1993–1995 Oslo Accords. The Palestinian Authority controlled the Gaza Strip prior to the Palestinian elections of 2006 and the subsequent Gaza conflict between the Fatah and Hamas parties, when it lost control to Hamas; the PA continues to claim the Gaza Strip, although Hamas exercises de facto control. Since January 2013, the Palestinian Authority has used the name "State of Palestine" on official documents, although the United Nations continues to recognize the Palestinian Liberation Organization (PLO) as the "representative of the Palestinian people".

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Palestine Liberation Organization</span> Palestinian militant and political organization

The Palestine Liberation Organization is a Palestinian nationalist coalition that is internationally recognized as the official representative of the Palestinian people. Founded in 1964, it initially sought to establish an Arab state over the entire territory of the former Mandatory Palestine, advocating the elimination of the State of Israel. However, in 1993, the PLO recognized Israeli sovereignty with the Oslo I Accord, and now only seeks Arab statehood in the Palestinian territories that have been militarily occupied by Israel since the 1967 Arab–Israeli War.

Palestinians hold a diverse range of views on the peace process with Israel, though the goal that unites them is the end of the Israeli occupation of the West Bank. Some Palestinians accept a two-state solution, with the West Bank and the Gaza Strip forming a distinct Palestinian state, whereas other Palestinians insist on a one-state solution with equal rights for all citizens whether they are Muslims, Christians or Jews. In this scenario, Palestinian refugees may be allowed to resettle the land they were forced to flee in the 1948 Palestinian expulsion and flight. However, widespread anti-Semitic sentiments in Palestinian society and Palestinian militancy have hindered the peace process.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">History of the State of Palestine</span>

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The Oslo I Accord or Oslo I, officially called the Declaration of Principles on Interim Self-Government Arrangements or short Declaration of Principles (DOP), was an attempt in 1993 to set up a framework that would lead to the resolution of the ongoing Israeli–Palestinian conflict. It was the first face-to-face agreement between the government of Israel and the Palestine Liberation Organization (PLO).

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Palestinian territories</span> Occupied Palestinian territory in the Middle East

The Palestinian territories are the two regions of the former British Mandate for Palestine that have been occupied by Israel since the Six-Day War of 1967, namely the West Bank and the Gaza Strip. The International Court of Justice (ICJ) has referred to the West Bank, including East Jerusalem, as "the Occupied Palestinian Territory", and this term was used as the legal definition by the ICJ in its advisory opinion of July 2004. The term occupied Palestinian territory was used by the United Nations and other international organizations between October 1999 and December 2012 to refer to areas controlled by the Palestinian National Authority, but from 2012, when Palestine was admitted as one of its non-member observer states, the United Nations started using exclusively the name State of Palestine. The European Union (EU) also uses the term "occupied Palestinian territory". The government of Israel and its supporters use the label "disputed territories" instead.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">State of Palestine</span> Country in West Asia

Palestine, officially the State of Palestine, is a country in the southern Levant region of West Asia. It encompasses two disconnected territories — the West Bank and the Gaza Strip, collectively known as the Palestinian territories — within the larger region of Palestine. The country shares its borders with Israel to north, west and south, Jordan to the east and Egypt to the southwest. It has a combined land area of 6,020 square kilometres (2,320 sq mi) while its population exceeds five million people. Its proclaimed capital is Jerusalem while Ramallah serves as its administrative center and Rafah is currently its largest city. Arabic is the official language. The majority of Palestinians practice Islam while Christianity also has a significant presence.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Jonas Gahr Støre</span> Norwegian politician (born 1960)

Jonas Gahr Støre is a Norwegian politician who has served as the 36th and current Prime Minister of Norway since 2021 and has been Leader of the Labour Party since 2014. He served under Prime Minister Jens Stoltenberg as Minister of Foreign Affairs from 2005 to 2012 and as Minister of Health and Care Services from 2012 to 2013. He has been a Member of the Storting for Oslo since 2009.

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The Arab–Israeli conflict is the phenomenon involving political tension, military conflicts, and other disputes between various Arab countries and Israel, which escalated during the 20th century. The roots of the Arab–Israeli conflict have been attributed to the support by Arab League member countries for the Palestinians, a fellow League member, in the ongoing Israeli–Palestinian conflict; this in turn has been attributed to the simultaneous rise of Zionism and Arab nationalism towards the end of the 19th century, though the two national movements had not clashed until the 1920s.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Espen Barth Eide</span> Norwegian politician and political scientist

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References

  1. "Norge anarkjenner Palestina". Regjeringen.no (in Norwegian). Retrieved 2024-05-22.
  2. 1 2 3 https://rucforsk.ruc.dk/ws/portalfiles/portal/64648273/Norway_s_ambiguous_approach_to_Israel_and_Palestine_M_Pace_10_August_2018.pdf [ bare URL PDF ]
  3. "Flytter norsk ambassade fra Tunisia til Algerie". Bergens Tidende (in Norwegian). Norwegian News Agency. 19 January 2007. Retrieved 25 November 2021.
  4. "Danmark strammer betingelserne for bistand til palæstinenserne". www.b.dk (in Danish). 22 December 2017. Retrieved 10 March 2018.
  5. Keinon, Herb (27 May 2017). "Norway slams PA for glorifying terrorists with its money". JPost.com. Retrieved 27 May 2017.
  6. Issacharoff, Avi (27 May 2017). "Norway demands PA return funds for women's center named after terrorist". The Times of Israel. Retrieved 10 March 2018.
  7. Affairs, Ministry of Foreign (26 May 2017). "Unacceptable glorification of terrorist attacks". Government.no. Retrieved 10 March 2018.
  8. "Israel hardt ut mot Norge for merking av bosetterprodukter". 11 June 2022.
  9. Wintour, Patrick (27 October 2023). "Israel-Gaza war: UN general assembly calls for 'immediate, durable humanitarian truce'". The Guardian.
  10. "Jonas Gahr Støre trur lidingane i Gaza vil halde fram i lang tid". 9 November 2023.
  11. "Norway parliament calls for recognition of independent Palestinian state".
  12. "Støre refser Israel: – Totalt uakseptabelt". MSN (in Norwegian). 23 December 2023.