JERUSALEM: Israel said on Thursday it was revoking the diplomatic status of Norway’s envoys to the Palestinian Authority accusing Oslo of “anti-Israel behaviour” during the Gaza war and drawing a formal protest.
Norway - a key facilitator in the Israeli-Palestinian peace process, particularly in the secret negotiations that led to the Oslo Accords of the 1990s - swiftly summoned the Israeli ambassador to lodge a formal protest.
Israeli Foreign Minister Israel Katz said he “ordered the termination of any representation on behalf of the Norwegian embassy in Israel vis-a-vis the Palestinian Authority,” which has limited powers in urban areas of the Israeli-occupied West Bank.
“There is a price for anti-Israel behaviour,” Katz added in a statement, citing Norway’s recent recognition of a Palestinian state and backing of a pending International Criminal Court case implicating Israeli leaders in alleged war crimes and crimes against humanity in Gaza.
Norway accused the hard-right government of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu of adopting an “extreme” response.
“This is an extreme action that first and foremost affects our ability to help the Palestinian population”, Foreign Minister Espen Barth Eide said in a statement.
“We are considering what measures Norway will take to respond to the situation that the Netanyahu government has now created”, he added.
Barth Eide later called in an Israeli embassy official to hear a formal protest.
“A short while ago, I summoned Israel’s representative to Norway and met her at the foreign ministry to protest against this decision,” the minister told journalists.
‘Baseless pretexts’
The Palestinian Authority accused Israel of resorting to “baseless pretexts” to put pressure on any government that tries to halt “violations against our people”.
A statement from its foreign ministry expressed “condemnation and strong disapproval of the decision by the (Israeli) occupation authorities to restrict the work of Norwegian diplomats operating in the occupied State of Palestine, including Jerusalem”.
It also expressed “rejection and disapproval of Israel’s attempts to create baseless pretexts to pressure countries and international institutions that support our people and contribute to diplomatic and legal pressure on the occupying power to halt its crimes and violations against our people”.
The Israeli foreign ministry said it would revoke the diplomatic status of “eight Norwegian diplomats... whose duties were to represent Norway vis-a-vis the Palestinian Authority”.
In an official note delivered Thursday, the ministry said the order would go into effect in seven days.
The note accused Norway of “one-sided policies and statements” since the October 7 attack on Israel by Palestinian militant group Hamas that sparked the war in Gaza.
146 countries recognise Palestinian state
In May, Israel had ordered Spain’s consulate in Jerusalem to stop offering consular services to Palestinians from the occupied West Bank from June 1, a “punitive” measure for Madrid’s recognition of a Palestinian state, Katz said at the time.
Spain, Ireland and Norway had earlier announced their decision to recognise a Palestinian state, which Israel’s government opposes.
Recognition by the three countries brought to 146 the number of UN member states recognising a Palestinian state.
Norway on August 5 said the International Criminal Court had jurisdiction over Palestinian territories and that it should go ahead with proceedings in its case for arrest warrants against Israeli and Hamas leaders over the Gaza war.
In June, Norway announced it would increase its funding to the UN agency for Palestinian refugees (UNRWA) by 100 million kroner ($9.3 million).
Norway hosted secret Israeli-Palestinian talks in the Norwegian capital that led to the first Oslo Accord signed in Washington in 1993.
The agreements established a limited degree of Palestinian self-rule, and were intended as an interim measure that would lead to Palestinian statehood, but talks tapered off.
Foreign leaders have warned that the expansion of Israeli settlements, which are illegal under international law, threatens the viability of a Palestinian state.
