Oslo, Norway’s capital, announced on Tuesday, 25 April 2023 that it will not trade in goods and services produced in illegal Israeli settlements.
In a statement, Oslo said that its procurement policy will exclude companies that directly or indirectly contribute to Israel’s illegal settlement enterprise – a war crime under international law.
The BDS movement for freedom, justice, and equality warmly welcomed this decision and saluted the “tireless work of Norwegian grassroots groups, trade unions, and parties that have made it possible.”
The BDS also called on cities worldwide to sever ties with “apartheid Israel to support the Palestinian quest for freedom, justice, and equality.”
In 2022, Norway decided that products made in illegal Israeli settlements in the occupied West Bank, the Eastern part of Jerusalem, and the Golan Heights must be labeled with their place of origin.
In a statement announcing the move in June, the Norwegian foreign ministry noted a 2019 ruling by the European Union’s top court requiring products from these areas to be labeled as originating from an “Israeli settlement.”
“Foodstuffs originating in areas occupied by ‘Israel’ must be marked with the area from which the product comes, and that it comes from an Israeli settlement if that is the case,” the statement noted, “especially wine, olive oil, fruit, vegetables, and potatoes.”
It’s worth noting that more than 650,000 colonial settlers were distributed among 164 illegal settlements and 124 outposts built on the stolen lands of occuiped West Bank and Jerusalem.
The West Bank and Jerusalem lands are occupied territories based on International law due to this all Israeli settlement-building activities there are illegal.
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