Norwegian conflict resolution organization held meetings with Hamas officials and was viewed by the terrorist group as a potential channel for influencing European policy, according to documents analyzed by NGO Monitor.
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Internal Hamas documents analyzed by NGO Monitor describe a series of contacts between Hamas officials and the Norwegian Center for Conflict Resolution, known as NOREF, including meetings and discussions that Hamas reportedly hoped could help alter European policy toward the terrorist organization.
The documents, dating from 2021 and 2022, describe meetings involving officials from Hamas’ foreign relations apparatus and NOREF representatives, according to NGO Monitor. They also indicate that Hamas viewed its relationship with the Norwegian organization as a potential avenue to reach European officials and challenge its political isolation.
The European Union, United States, Canada and several other Western governments designate Hamas as a terrorist organization. Norway does not maintain its own national list of designated terrorist organizations and has maintained contacts with Hamas as part of its conflict diplomacy.
Norway’s government has publicly acknowledged its longstanding contacts with Hamas. A recent Norwegian government white paper said Norway’s contacts with Hamas, the Taliban, the Houthis and Iranian authorities have generally formed part of an “informal division of labor” conducted in consultation with European partners.
The newly highlighted documents provide additional detail about how Hamas itself characterized its relationship with NOREF.
Hamas Saw NOREF as European Access Point
According to material cited by NGO Monitor, a July 2021 Hamas document described a meeting between representatives of NOREF and Hamas’ Office of Foreign Relations in Gaza.
The document reportedly identified Basem Naim, a senior Hamas official, and Abdallah Walid as Hamas participants. NOREF representatives identified in the document included officials responsible for the organization’s leadership and Middle East work.
An independent Norwegian publication that previously reported on the document said the meeting took place on May 15, 2021, during that month’s fighting between Israel and Hamas. The Hamas document described an interest in developing a more formal framework for continued interaction with NOREF.
According to NGO Monitor, Hamas characterized NOREF as potentially useful because of the organization’s access to international officials.
The Hamas document said the organization met “many [international] officials either publicly or secretly” and discussed taking advantage of what it described as the political situation in the Palestinian territories to push toward “changing the European position.”
The wording is significant because Hamas has faced extensive political and diplomatic isolation in Europe as a result of its terrorist designation.
The documents represent Hamas’ internal characterization of the relationship. The claims about the intentions and activities of NOREF have not been independently established by TheJ.ca.
2022 Document Describes Further Coordination
NGO Monitor said an August 2022 Hamas document recorded another meeting involving Hamas and NOREF representatives.
According to the document, the discussions included coordination surrounding a delegation to Gaza following approval from Hamas’ foreign relations apparatus.
The document also reportedly described a NOREF-linked initiative involving representatives connected to Hamas, Palestinian Islamic Jihad and the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine.
Both Palestinian Islamic Jihad and the PFLP are designated terrorist organizations by the United States, Canada and the European Union.
NGO Monitor said the records demonstrate that the contacts went beyond isolated dialogue and warrant scrutiny of NOREF’s relationship with Hamas.
“Norway has long chosen to ignore the evidence, refusing to designate Hamas a terror group, unlike European and other democratic governments,” NGO Monitor founder and president Prof. Gerald M. Steinberg said in a statement.
“Norway’s NGO industry must belatedly join the European consensus, and cease all coordination with the terror group, private or public, direct or via intermediaries,” Steinberg added.
NOREF’s Relationship With Norwegian Government
NOREF describes itself as an independent foundation specializing in conflict mediation and diplomacy.
Norwegian corporate records identify NOREF, formally the Norwegian Center for Conflict Resolution, as a registered foundation based in Oslo.
Its relationship with the Norwegian government is nevertheless substantial.
Norway’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs provides financial support for NOREF as part of the country’s peace and reconciliation programs. A Norwegian government report on conflict diplomacy states that the ministry’s peace and reconciliation budget includes funding for NOREF and other international conflict resolution organizations.
NOREF has also worked alongside institutions such as the Peace Research Institute Oslo. PRIO identifies NOREF as one of the operational partners in Norway’s Nordic Women Mediators network.
Contact with actors involved in armed conflicts is itself consistent with Norway’s longstanding diplomatic strategy. Oslo has deliberately maintained channels to governments and armed organizations that some allied countries avoid engaging directly.
The central question raised by NGO Monitor’s findings is therefore not simply whether contact occurred, but what form that relationship took, what NOREF understood Hamas was seeking from it, and whether those interactions extended beyond conflict mediation into efforts to influence European policy.
Broader Questions Over Foreign NGOs in Gaza
The disclosure comes as NGO Monitor continues publishing research based on documents it says originated within Hamas and were obtained following Israel’s military operations in Gaza.
The organization has separately examined the activities of the Norwegian Refugee Council and other international NGOs operating in Gaza.
Those findings form part of a wider debate over how humanitarian and conflict resolution organizations operated under a territory controlled by Hamas from 2007 until the war triggered by the Hamas-led terrorist attacks against Israel on Oct. 7, 2023.
NOREF itself remains active in international conflict diplomacy. Norway also continues to defend the principle of maintaining contacts with controversial actors when it believes those channels can facilitate negotiations or humanitarian outcomes. The Norwegian government’s own policy documents explicitly acknowledge contacts with Hamas and other armed groups.
The Hamas documents, however, provide a different perspective: how Hamas reportedly viewed those channels and sought to exploit them for its own diplomatic objectives.
That distinction is likely to be central to assessing NGO Monitor’s findings and determining whether NOREF’s engagement remained within the boundaries of conflict mediation or provided Hamas with political access it otherwise lacked.
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