The Norwegian Center for Conflict Resolution, known as NOREF, met senior Hamas officials in Gaza on 15 May 2021. Marte Heian-Engdal, its deputy head, and Frida Nome, who runs its Middle East department, met Bassem Naim, who heads Hamas's foreign relations office and sits on its political bureau, and Abdullah Walid of the same department. The subject was mediating a relationship between Hamas and the European Union and opening channels to the wider international community. Papers indicate preparation for a further visit on 18 August 2022, on Palestinian reconciliation, and it is not clear whether it took place.
NOREF's standing is the point. It was founded by the Norwegian government in 2008, its board is appointed by the foreign ministry, it takes state funding and it supports Norwegian peace efforts, while describing itself as an independent foundation. The organisation said that such contact does not imply endorsement of any actor. The foreign ministry did not answer questions.
The material comes from Hamas's own internal documents, taken during the war in Gaza, declassified by the army, and shown to The Times of Israel by NGO Monitor. Its founder Gerald Steinberg tied the meetings to Norway's refusal to designate Hamas as a terrorist organisation, which makes Norway an outlier in Europe.
Norway is not an incidental actor here. It hosted the secret talks that produced the Oslo Accords in 1993, recognised a Palestinian state in 2024, and had its diplomats' accreditation revoked by Israel in response. A state that built its standing on talking to people others would not is now shown to have been doing exactly that, five years ago, through a body it funds.