Norway’s capital Oslo bans Israel settlement goods, services

Oslo’s newly installed City Council is banning Israeli settlement goods and services from public contracts, reported the Palestinian Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions (BDS) National Committee.

Norway’s capital and largest city has become the sixth Norwegian municipality to ban settlement goods and services, along with one county council.

In their 2019-2023 plan, the Socialist Left, Green and Labour parties commit to ensuring that public procurement does not include “goods and services produced on territory occupied in violation of international law by companies operating under the permission of the occupying power.”

The ban on settlement products and services does not distinguish between Israeli and international corporations that operate in Israel’s illegal settlements.

The resolution called on Israel to “immediately and completely cease all settlement activities in the occupied Palestinian territory, including Ease Jerusalem, and that it fully respects all of its legal obligations in this regard.”

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Israel captured the West Bank, East Jerusalem and the Gaza Strip in the Six-Day War in 1967.

Last week, the UN independent expert on human rights in the Palestinian territories, Michael Lynk, called for an international ban on all Israeli settlement products, as a step towards ending Israel’s 52-year-old illegal occupation.

Sunniva Eidsvoll, leader of the Oslo chapter of the Socialist Left Party, said: “The Palestinian people, who have to deal with the illegal occupation of their territory every single day, deserve international attention and support.”

“It is a shared global responsibility to help ensure that human rights and international law are not violated. I am proud that the Oslo City Council is now taking steps to prevent goods and services purchased by the city from supporting an illegal occupation of Palestine or other territories.”

The Socialist Left Party of Norway has been a long-time supporter of the BDS movement.

The recent ban on Israeli settlement products came with a declaration by the Oslo City Council that it is committed to “investigating the scope of action in the procurement regulations to not trade goods and services produces on territory occupied in violation of international law by companies operating under the permission of the occupying power.”

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