Extracts: Norwegian foreign minister decries Israeli government’s ‘extreme and unreasonable’ decision, vows Oslo will continue working for ‘viable Palestinian state’ despite setbacks
Norway will be closing its Representative Office in the Palestinian West Bank town of Al-Ram “until further notice” the foreign minister said on Friday, following a decision by Israel to revoke the accreditation of Norwegian diplomats working there.
Earlier this month, Israel’s Foreign Ministry announced that it would be revoking the diplomatic status of eight Norwegian diplomats who dealt with the Palestinian Authority, in response to Oslo’s recognition of a Palestinian state earlier this year 2024
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The dramatic step would serve to show the Norwegians that there was “a price for anti-Israel conduct” Foreign Minister Israel Katz said at the time
The diplomats were told that they would have their accreditation revoked within a week and their visas in three months. They were all offered the option to apply for new accreditation.
In a statement on Friday, Norwegian Foreign Ministry Espen Barth Eide said that Oslo considered the decision by the government of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to be “extreme and unreasonable”
In light of the closure of the West Bank Representative Office, nearly 30 years after it opened in 1995 Barth Eide said Norway was “working to determine” the best way to move forward
