Norway and the Middle East peace process : past involvement, mediation efforts, outcome

Abstract

A great number of studies have been made and articles written about the secret Israeli Palestinian negotiations that led to the Oslo Accord. But, few research attempts have been there to understand the reasons behind the Norwegian historic mediation breakthrough, at a time when many other mediators failed. The prevailing perception for many scholars and mediation analysts is that Norway played a crucial role by providing a secret venue and appropriate conditions for the parties to make painful compromises and reach mutually acceptable solutions (win-win). The paper makes an effort to answer the question about why Israel and the Palestinians found Norway to be a trustworthy mediator. It analyses the nature of the internal Norwegian political factors that motivated this Scandinavian country to assume the role of the peacemaker. The paper makes a brief historic review of the Norwegian relations both with Israel and PLO and analyses the impact of these relations on the articulation of the Norwegian policy towards the conflict.