Norway wants to ban trade with illegal Israeli settlements in Palestine | Israel-Palestine War News

The Norwegian government has announced talks on a new bill as it raises concerns about Israel’s “illegal” occupation.

The Norwegian government has said it plans to ban all trade with Israeli settlements in the Palestinian territories, and has announced talks on a new bill to ban the trade.

“Israeli plantations in Palestine violate international law,” Foreign Minister Espen Barth Eide said on Friday.

“It contributes to migration, extreme violence and factors that contribute to the peaceful process. We want to stop trade and illegal settlements,” he said.

The Norwegian government wants to ban the sale of goods made in illegal Israeli settlements in the occupied Palestinian territories, including Gaza, the West Bank and East Jerusalem.

As for real estate, Oslo also plans to ban “buying property in villages, providing services related to construction, renovation, buying or selling property in these areas, as well as acquiring commercial enterprises whose offices and production facilities are located in villages”, said the Ministry of Foreign Affairs.

“The settlement undermines the foundations of the Palestinian state. Norwegian citizens and Norwegian companies should not contribute to this development. With this legal framework, the government is acting clearly and imposing laws that impose strict limits on trade and commerce in Norway,” added Eide.

Norway, which is not a member of the European Union, recognized the state of Palestine in 2024, the same time as EU members Ireland and Spain did. The Israeli government quickly retaliated by withdrawing its embassies from Oslo, Dublin and Madrid and summoning the representatives of Norway, Ireland and Spain to Tel Aviv.

Last week, Norway joined five other countries, the UK, Australia, Canada, France and New Zealand related penalties targeting networks involved in financing, supporting and perpetrating Palestinian violence in the Israeli-occupied West Bank.

Eide added: “The settlement of the people and the brutality with which people living in the violent areas are treated are making the West Bank very difficult.

The Norwegian government has drafted a law banning trade with Israeli territories, which is now being circulated for discussion for the next three months, until September 19.

In response to the announcement of the bill, Francesca Albanesethe special rapporteur of the United Nations on Palestine, which occupied the land, said: “A small thing, very small, but it is a beginning.”

“Norway still has to answer this: how can a country that promotes human rights, allow its sovereign wealth fund, the largest in the world, to invest in organizations related to work that the ICJ has found illegal?”

Liberal experts have said this in relation to Norway’s $2 trillion investment fund, which has shares in 8,700 companies around the world, including several Israeli companies, though. last yearNorway said it is withdrawing from 11 Israeli companies and is continuing to review further exits.