Norway to reject calls for ban by wealth fund on companies in occupied Palestinian Territories

Norway is set to reject campaigners' call to instruct its $1.8 trillion wealth fund to boycott any company selling products and services in the occupied Palestinian territories, Reuters is reporting.

According to a source familiar with the proceedings, a majority in the Norwegian parliament's finance committee decided that only companies that can be linked to the violation of international law should be excluded from the fund's portfolio, not just any companies with a presence in these areas.

Last year, the International Court of Justice (ICJ) issued an advisory opinion that Israel's occupation of Palestinian territories was illegal.

Currently, the fund, which operates under ethical guidelines set by the Norwegian parliament, has blacklisted 11 companies for assisting Israel's occupation, the last of which was Israeli petrol station chain Paz PAZ.TA earlier this month.

At the end of last year the fund had just over $2bn invested in 65 Israeli companies, or 0.1 percent of its total.

Reporting by Reuters