Norway is contributing NOK 200 million to help ensure that public employees in Palestine receive their salaries.
This week, Foreign Minister Espen Barth Eide is attending a UN conference on the two-state solution in New York. Norway and Japan are co-chairs of the working group focused on strengthening the Palestinian economy. The goal is to ensure that a future Palestinian state has a sustainable economy and the capacity to provide essential services to its population.
‘The Palestinian government is facing a economic crisis that the international community must take seriously. Basic services such as healthcare, education and social protection must be sustained. That is why we are now supporting Palestine with NOK 200 million’, said Foreign Minister Espen Barth Eide.
The economic crisis in Palestine has worsened due to the war in Gaza and Israel’s withholding of Palestinian tax revenues. According to Palestinian authorities, Israel has since October 2023 withheld revenues amounting to NOK 27.5 billion – roughly half of Palestine’s national budget for 2025.
‘It is unacceptable that Israel is withholding revenues that rightfully belong to the Palestinian people. This practice not only undermines the Palestinian authorities’ ability to provide services, but also contributes to growing hardship and instability in an already extremely vulnerable situation’, said Eide.
‘A sustainable solution to this conflict requires strong, functioning Palestinian institutions. We are not supporting a Palestinian state on paper – we are supporting a functioning state for the Palestinian people’, said the Foreign Minister.
Norway’s support to Palestine in 2025 will total more than NOK 1.1 billion.
