On June 19, the Norwegian Ministry of Foreign Affairs announced that the government has drafted a law prohibiting trade with Israeli settlements in the occupied Palestinian territories. The draft will be open for consultation for three months, until September 19.
“Israeli settlements in Palestine violate international law,” Norwegian Foreign Minister Espen Barth Eide emphasized in the June 19 statement. “They contribute to displacement, extremist violence, and make a peaceful solution impossible. We intend to ban trade with these illegal settlements.”
Under the proposal, the ban would cover goods produced in Israeli settlements on occupied Palestinian land, including Gaza, the West Bank, and East Jerusalem. Regarding real estate, Oslo would also prohibit “purchase or sale of property in the settlements, provision of services related to construction, renovation, or sale of property in these areas, as well as acquisition of commercial enterprises whose headquarters and production facilities are located in the settlements.”
Norway, which is not a member of the European Union, officially recognized the State of Palestine in 2024, at the same time as Ireland and Spain. Earlier, in May 2026, Norway, along with Britain, Australia, Canada, France, and New Zealand, imposed coordinated sanctions targeting networks that support, fund, and carry out violence by extremist settlers against Palestinians in the occupied West Bank.
Reacting to Norway’s move, Francesca Albanese, UN Special Rapporteur on human rights in the occupied Palestinian territories, called it “a small step, the smallest, but it is a start.” However, she questioned: “Norway still must answer: how can a human rights-supporting country allow its massive sovereign wealth fund, one of the world’s largest, to invest in entities linked to an occupation the International Court of Justice (ICJ) has deemed illegal?” Norway’s sovereign wealth fund, worth $2 trillion, holds stakes in 8,700 companies globally, including some Israeli firms. Last year, Norway announced it had divested from 11 Israeli companies and continues to review further divestment.
