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Norway closes PA office after Israel revokes reps’ diplomatic status

‘Whoever acts against us, we will act against it. We will continue to maintain the status and national honor of the State of Israel,’ Katz added.

By JNS

Norway announced on Saturday that it was closing its diplomatic office in Palestinian Authority-controlled Judea and Samaria, Israel’s Foreign Minister Israel Katz said on Sunday.

The shuttering of the Representative Office in the Palestinian town of Al-Ram northeast of Jerusalem follows the decision by the Israeli government to cancel the diplomatic status of eight Norwegian representatives operating out of the country’s embassy in Tel Aviv whose sole role was to represent Oslo to the P.A. in Ramallah.

Jerusalem’s move was in retaliation for “Norway’s recognition of a Palestinian-Hamas state after the October 7 massacre and its support for the issuing of arrest warrants against Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Israeli officials,” according to Katz.

“Whoever acts against us, we will act against it. We will continue to maintain the status and national honor of the State of Israel,” he added.

In a statement released by the Foreign Ministry on Aug. 8 announcing the cancellation of the diplomatic status, Katz also cited “one-sided” anti-Israel statements by Norwegian officials and Norway’s independent moves regarding the P.A.

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On Aug. 7, Israel canceled an agreement that it had struck with Norway in January to hold P.A. taxes and customs duties for safekeeping, part of a deal to freeze P.A. funds destined for Hamas in the Gaza Strip.