Settlers, under army protection, go on a rampage in the village of Hawara near Nablus district in May 2023. AFP
"Norwegian people and Norwegian companies should not contribute to sustaining illegal settlements," the foreign ministry in Oslo said in a statement.
Specifically, the government wants to ban trade in goods produced in Israeli settlements on occupied Palestinian lands -- Gaza and the West Bank, which includes East Jerusalem.
Oslo also plans to outlaw "the purchase of property in the settlements, the provision of services relating to the construction, renovation, purchase or sale of property in these areas, and the acquisition of commercial enterprises whose head office and production facilities are located in the settlements", the ministry said.
The government has drafted a bill to this effect, which will be subject to consultations for three months, until September 19.
"We want to ban all commercial activity with these illegal settlements," Foreign Minister Espen Barth Eide said in the statement.
The bill stresses that Norway will continue trade and other ties with legitimate Palestinian activities on Palestinian land, as well as the provision of humanitarian aid.
"The colonies undermine the very foundations of the Palestinian state," Barth Eide said.
Noway, which is not a member of the European Union, recognised the state of Palestine in 2024, at the same time as EU members Ireland and Spain did.
Ireland is pushing for the 27-nation EU to ban all trade with Israeli settlements in Palestinian territories.
The bloc said last week it would look at options for "restricting" trade with the Israeli settlements.
In tandem, Spain has been spearheading the effort to end the EU-Israel preferential trade agreement over its genocidal war in Gaza and continued occupation of the West Bank and East Jerusalem.
Israel has increased the rate of construction of settlements in the occupied West Bank and East Jerusalem and forced the displacement of tens of thousands of residents as part of its attempts to annex these territories since the start of its genocidal war on Gaza in October 2023.
In tandem, Israeli settlers, backed by the occupation army, have been subjecting more than 3 million Palestinians in these occupied territories to a reign of terror since the start of the Gaza war, with settlers and soldiers beatings, damaging crops, cattle theft, and arson against homes and mosques reported almost daily.
On Thursday, the Foreign Ministers of Egypt, Jordan, the United Arab Emirates, Indonesia, Pakistan, Turkey, Saudi Arabia, and Qatar condemn in the strongest terms the continued and escalating settler violence against Palestinians in the occupied West Bank, including the recent arson attacks on the Grand Mosque in the village of Jiljlia and the Al-Farouq Mosque in the village of Mazra’a al-Nubani, north of Ramallah.
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