Peacemaking Is a Risky Business - PRIO

Chapter 2NORWAY’S POLITICAL PAST IN THE MIDDLEEASTTHE OSLO BACK CHANNEL was not Norway’s first peace effort in the MiddleEast. Indeed, Norway had been involved with different conscious mediationand confidence-building efforts in the Middle East for years prior to the openingof the secret Oslo Back Channel. Since the establishment of the State of Israel,Norway had been one of Israel’s staunchest and best friends. In the late 1970s, and laterthan most other Western countries, Norway gradually established relations with thePLO. But the relationship between Norway and the PLO was much weaker and muchmore recent than the already established and close friendship between Norway and Israel.Is this political past insignificant when it comes to understanding and explainingNorway’s role in the Oslo Back Channel? Or does this constitute a decisive explanationfor the Norwegian involvement? 1Establishing a Very Special RelationshipA very special relationship existed between Norway and Israel long before the excitingdays of the secret Norwegian back channel. After its founding in 1948, Israel becamemuch more than just one of the many states with which Norway was on friendlyterms. Norwegians developed an enormous admiration for Israel, almost akin to religiousveneration. And this was not confined to Norway’s religious and conservativecircles. Indeed, it was within the Labour movement that this religious ‘conversion’was most clearly seen. And the Labour Party governed Norway for most of the postwarperiod. 2Several factors explain the development of this relationship between the two socialdemocratic governments and parties, and the extraordinary admiration and support felttowards the new Jewish state across the whole spectrum of the Norwegian politicalenvironment. Of course, as in many European countries after 1945, general feelings ofguilt with regard to the fate of the Jewish people during World War II underlay the1 As will be discussed later, one must distinguish between the factors explaining the entry or beginningof the process and the factors explaining the process itself and the results it led to.2 This chapter is based on my previous research; see, in particular, Waage 1989, 1996, 2000a, 2000cand 2002.