– Oslo, Norway’s capital, announced that it will not trade in goods and services produced in illegal Israeli settlements, saying its procurement policy will exclude companies that directly or indirectly contribute to Israel’s illegal settlement enterprise – a war crime under international law.
The Palestinian BDS National Committee (BNC), the largest coalition leading the global BDS movement for freedom, justice and equality, warmly welcomed on Tuesday this decision and saluted the “tireless work of Norwegian grassroots groups, trade unions and parties that have made it possible.”
Following the Barcelona mayor’s suspension of ties with ‘Israel’, the Oslo city council decision has rejected complicity and promoted human rights, said the BNC.
The BNC has also called on cities worldwide to sever ties with “apartheid Israel to support the Palestinian quest for freedom, justice, and equality.”
In February, Barcelona temporarily broke off ties with the Israeli occupation over its policy towards Palestine. The Catalan capital has been twinned with Tel Aviv for 25 years, but this relationship has been temporarily suspended.
Ada Colau, the left-wing mayor of Barcelona, wrote to Israeli occupation Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to announce the city would suspend relations until ‘Israel’ ended the “systematic violation of the people of Palestine’s human rights”.
“I have decided to temporarily suspend relations with the state of Israel and with the official institutions of that state -including the twinning agreements with the Tel Aviv City Council – until the Israeli authorities put an end to the system of violations of the Palestinian people and fully comply with the obligations imposed on them by international law and the various United Nations resolutions. We cannot be silent,” wrote the mayor.
In 2022, Norway decided that products made in illegal Israeli settlements in the occupied West Bank, Eastern part of Jerusalem and the Golan Heights must be labeled with their place of origin.
In a statement announcing the move in June, the Norwegian foreign ministry noted a 2019 ruling by the European Union’s top court requiring products from these areas to be labeled as originating from an “Israeli settlement.”
“Foodstuffs originating in areas occupied by ‘Israel’ must be marked with the area from which the product comes, and that it comes from an Israeli settlement if that is the case,” the statement noted, “especially wine, olive oil, fruit, vegetables and potatoes.”
The European Union’s top court ruled in 2019 that EU countries must identify products made in Israeli settlements on their labels. Norway is not an EU member, but is part of the European Single Market.
The European Court of Justice said that when products come from an Israeli settlement, their labels must provide an “indication of that provenance” so that consumers can make “informed choices” when they shop.
The European Commission said it was up to individual EU countries to ensure that labels are correct, but that the origin of settlement produce must be made known in a way that is “not misleading to the consumer.”
In December 2022, Norway’s sovereign wealth fund was reportedly reviewing its investments in ‘Israel’ with reports said it may entirely halt them over concerns about Israeli companies’ work in illegal West Bank settlements.
The world’s largest sovereign wealth fund, which has assets valued at $1.3 trillion, has been reportedly considering cutting ties with Israeli companies as a result of a 2020 decision by the United Nations to issue a blacklist of more than 100 global companies that have business in illegal settlements.
The fund has explored halting investments in ‘Israel’ for months, but the idea gained momentum recently with the formation of Israel’s new far-right government, according to the reports.
The sovereign wealth fund, established to ensure that Norway’s petroleum revenues are enjoyed by future generations, has been a big investor in ‘Israel’.
In 2020, the Norwegian wealth fund invested $1.3 billion in 81 Israeli companies – about a third of its total Middle East investments.
In December 2022, the fund said it would exclude from its portfolio one Israeli software and data firm that it said held “unacceptable risk” of human rights violations.
It also has a history of divesting from businesses linked to Israel’s illegal occupation of the West Bank. In 2020, the fund reportedly sold its holdings in two Israeli construction companies, Mivne Real Estate and Shafir Engineering, over illegal settlement construction.
Norway also announced in 2014 that the government pension fund would not invest in Africa Israel Investments and Danya Cebus, too, because they were involved in building in West Bank settlements. In its decision to exclude the two firms, the government cited “a serious violation of human rights in a war zone by building in settlements in East Jerusalem” based on a recommendation from its Council of Ethics.
Most of the international community considers Israeli settlements to be illegitimate and an obstacle to creating a Palestinian state. Over the decades, the Israeli occupation government has continued to expand illegal settlements in the occupied West Bank.
In recent years, there has been a significant increase in illegal housing units planning. There are over 700,000 Israeli settlers living in 256 illegal settlements and outposts scattered across the occupied West Bank, including the Eastern part of Jerusalem.
