Support to the Palestinians

The following article is a reply from the Norwegian Foreign Minister, Jonas Gahr Støre, to an article in the national daily newspaper Dagbladet on Norwegian assistance to the Palestinian Authority. This reply was printed in Dagbladet 10 April.

The national daily newspaper Dagbladet wrote yesterday (9 April) that Norway is cutting off assistance to the Palestinian Authority. This should be clarified. Norway remains a major donor to the Palestinian people. We provide about half a billion kroner a year. We have high ambitions as a donor, both in terms of providing humanitarian and social assistance, and in terms of helping to build up a Palestinian state that can live in peace with Israel. We will continue, and possibly increase, our support to the Palestinian people both through the UN and through NGOs.

Around one fifth of the Norwegian support has traditionally been transferred directly to the Palestinian Authority. One of the objectives of providing these funds has been to build up Palestinian institutions with a view to achieving a two-state solution. This is a goal we have shared with the Palestinian Authority.

Hamas is now heading a new Palestinian Government after winning a democratic election. Norway respects the results of the election. However, we have also stated that the new Government must abide by certain basic principles that have been agreed on by the international community: it must recognise the state of Israel, renounce violence and respect the agreements that have already been entered into. Of course we also expect Israel to respect these agreements, comply with UN resolutions and renounce violence.

We hope that the new Palestinian Government will proceed in the right direction. This will make it possible for us to continue our economic and political cooperation directly with the Government. We realise that it will take some time to make the necessary changes, but as things stand today the Government’s intentions are not yet clear enough. We wish to signal that Norway is prepared to continue to work with the Palestinian Government, on the condition that it clearly supports the basic principles agreed on by the international community.

We are currently discussing how we best can prevent the progress we have made in building up Palestinian institutions from being undone. We will also discuss this question with President Abbas during his visit to Norway at the end of the month.

Foreign Minister Jonas Gahr Støre