Speech to Palestinan President Yasser Arafat

Norway has a special obligation to support the peace process, since our capital was the cradle of the Oslo Accords, but also because Norway witnessed the signing of the Interim Agreement, known as the Oslo II agreement. The Norwegian Government will therefore continue to facilitate the peace process in the future, as it has done in the past, at the request of the parties.

The fundamental questions about the future of the Palestinians await the outcome of the permanent status negotiations. According to the Oslo accords, final status arrangements were supposed to have been finalised by the end of the defined 5-year interim period. Norway understands that many of the Palestinian people feel that the peace process has not lived up to their expectations. For any people yearning for a better future, in dignity and prosperity, change can never come fast enough. The Oslo Accords are based on the principle of land for peace, including UN Resolutions 242 and 338.

We had hoped for greater progress by this time. Delays in the full implementation of signed agreements are of particular concern. Norway has urged for implementation of the Wye River Memorandum and will continue to do so.

It is also the position of my Government that land confiscation and expansion of settlement should have been stopped long ago, and I have urged the Government of Israel to do so.

Despite difficulties we are still convinced that only a mutually acceptable political solution can provide the basis for sustainable Palestinian development. The principle of holding negotiations in specified sequences was a central element of the Oslo Accord that both parties agreed would facilitate the peace process.

Norway’s basic position is that the establishment of a Palestinian state should be negotiated consistent with the Oslo-accords and in the context of final status negotiations. We hope these negotiations will result in an agreement, which includes the establishment of a Palestinian state with which Norway will establish normal state-to-state-relations. We urge both parties therefore to start up accelerated final status talks immediately after the Israeli election with the aim of achieving results within a defined period of time. A declaration of the establishment of a Palestinian state at this particular stage will in our opinion be counterproductive, and will strengthen the enemies of peace.