Norway urges companies to avoid trade, business with Israeli settlements

By Leila Nezirevic

LONDON (AA) - The government urged companies in Norway on Thursday to avoid trade and business activities that contribute to maintaining illegal Israeli settlements.

“For years, Norway has been clear that the settlement policy in the West Bank, including East Jerusalem, is in violation of international law, including humanitarian law and human rights,” Foreign Minister Espen Barth Eide said in a statement.

Barth Eide said businesses should be aware that through “economic or financial activity in the Israeli settlements in violation of international law, they risk contributing to violations of international humanitarian law or human rights.”

Last year “was also the deadliest year for Palestinians in the West Bank since the UN began recording. I repeat that the injustice to which the Palestinians are subjected must stop,” he said.

More than 30,000 Palestinians have been killed since Israel began its current brutal war on the Gaza Strip, according to the Gaza Health Ministry, which said most of the deaths are women and children while over 70,000 are injured and tens of thousands missing or uncounted.

The Nordic country’s warning comes following announcements by other countries of measures against Israeli settlers committing attacks against Palestinians in the West Bank.

US Secretary of State Antony Blinken said last month that Israel’s expansion of settlements in the occupied West Bank are “inconsistent with international law.”

Blinken pointed out that the US was disappointed after Tel Aviv announced plans to build new buildings in the occupied West Bank.

“They’re also inconsistent with international law. Our administration maintains a firm opposition to settlement expansion, and in our judgment, this only weakens, doesn’t strengthen Israel’s security,” Blinken said at a news conference in Argentina.