Epstein-friend scrutinised over secret archive: "The missing Oslo Accords documents will surface in Jerusalem"
Professor Hilde Henriksen Waage has spent years searching for the missing documents from the Oslo process. She believes they are in the Israeli national archive in Jerusalem, and that they will soon be made public.
The people behind the Oslo Accords, when it was signed at Parkveien 45. At the back stand the three Norwegian diplomats who were most active in the secret negotiations in Norway in 1993: State Secretary Jan Egeland, Mona Juul, and her husband Terje Rød-Larsen.(Photo: Surveillance Police / NTB)
In 2004, history professor Hilde Henriksen Waage was tasked with evaluating Norway's role in the peace process between Israel and Palestine. This involved a deep dive into the Ministry of Foreign Affairs' archives.
That was when she discovered that documents were missing.
"Not a single document could be found in any folder covering the period from January to September 1993," she tells Science Norway.
Several parties in the Norwegian Parliament are now calling for an investigation into what has been described as Terje Rød-Larsen's private archive from the Oslo Accords, according to the Norwegian broadcasting corporation NRK.
Could some of these missing documents surface in the national archives in Jerusalem?
Annonse
Waage is certain of it.
The matter was first reported by Norwegian newspaper Dag og Tid.
Hilde Henriksen Waage is a Norwegian researcher and historian specialising in the Middle East. She works at the Peace Research Institute Oslo (PRIO).(Photo: Marte Dæhlen / Science Norway)
The national archivist reacted
In the late 1990s, the head of the National Archives of Norway, John Herstad, raised concerns about the fact that key documents from the secret Oslo process were missing.
This was a process that led to the first direct talks between Israel and the Palestine Liberation Organisation (PLO). The aim was to build trust between the parties, with the long-term goal of achieving a peace agreement.
Norway served as a secret intermediary between the sides.
It was the former researcher Terje Rød-Larsen, diplomat Mona Juul, and Minister of Foreign Affairs Johan Jørgen Holst who initiated these talks.
Mona Juul and Terje Rød-Larsen now have the status of suspects – on charges of corruption and complicity in corruption, respectively – following the release of a substantial portion of the Epstein files.
The national archivist received an 'arrogant reply'
Ivar Fonnes was head of the National Archives of Norway from 2006 to 2014.
He tells Science Norway that when he took the job, his predecessor John Herstad had already requested the documents from these talks.
Herstad argued that the materials documented official state diplomacy and therefore belonged in the national archives.
"Herstad contacted Terje Rød-Larsen and received a reply – somewhat arrogant, one might say – that when the time was right, he would hand over his papers to a serious, foreign institution. Apparently, we were not considered such an institution," says Fonnes.
Have tried to obtain them
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A few years later, after Fonnes had taken over as head of the National Archives, he made a more informal request to the Ministry of Foreign Affairs to get these documents.
"After some time, I was told they couldn't find anything," he says.
Ivar Fonnes believes that someone should have taken responsibility for documenting the Oslo process, even though the negotiations were secret.(Photo: Private)
In a statement to NRK, ministry spokesperson Ane Jørum says that the ministry has made several attempts to have the documents transferred to its archives, without success.
"The fact that historical documents that should be in the state archives are not there is regrettable," she writes in an email to NRK.
Someone should have been responsible for archiving
Science Norway asks Fonnes whether these are documents that should have been in the National Archives of Norway.
"At the very least, they should have been in the ministry's archives if they were official letters. But I don't know what minutes or working notes exist from the process itself. It was, after all, highly secretive. Still, someone should have been responsible for documenting it and ensuring that the material was preserved. Documents can be classified and still archived," says Fonnes.
He says it's entirely normal that some of the documents have ended up in Israel.
"If a Norwegian foreign minister sends a letter to Israel, it's received by Israeli authorities and becomes part of Israel's archives. The error, in that case, is that no copy was kept at the Norwegian Ministry of Foreign Affairs. No one appears to have been responsible for that," says Fonnes.
Epstein's interest in Norway
"Could the lack of documentation have been deliberate?"
"One might wonder, but that would be speculation," says Fonnes.
He believes that Epstein's interest in Rød-Larsen and Juul may be connected to the roles they played in the Oslo process and the fame they gained as a result.
"But beyond that, I don't want to speculate about any connection," he says.
What will the documents reveal?
In November 2022, Waage visited the national archives in Jerusalem, where an employee told her that Israel was preparing to release its own documents from the peace process.
" One of the documents already there was a five-page handwritten note by Johan Jørgen Holst, classified as strictly confidential and bearing the letterhead of the Royal Norwegian Ministry of Foreign Affairs," she says.
According to her, the Israeli archives have so far released only eight of the missing documents.
Waage believes the remaining documents will reveal what role Norway played in the peace process.
Others have seen the documents
It's not the case that no one has seen the missing documents. They have surfaced in books, theatre productions, and films.
They appear, for example, as quotes in books written by the former Israeli foreign minister Shimon Peres.
Journalist and author Odd Karsten Tveit also used them in his 2005 book War and Diplomacy.
What has been submitted to the National Archives?
Waage believes Tveit was shown the documents by Terje Rød-Larsen and Mona Juul. Science Norway therefore asked Tveit directly about this.
"It is true that in the book War and Diplomacy I quoted documents that were missing from the Ministry of Foreign Affairs' archives. As a journalist and author, the first rule is to protect one's sources. That is why I have never disclosed how I gained access to the documents," Tveit writes in an email to Science Norway.
He also writes that he has submitted the documents to the National Archives of Norway.
When Science Norway contacted the National Archives, the institution confirmed that it received a list of sources for the book War and Diplomacy in 2005 and The Guilty in 2015. It also received copies of notes from the negotiations, as well as several letters between then foreign minister Johan Jørgen Holst and Shimon Peres, as well as between the foreign minister and Yasir Arafat.
These documents are now publicly available in the National Archives.
What this archive and these sources do not contain are the original documents. Nor do they include information about where or from whom Tveit obtained this material, or where the original documents are located, the National Archives of Norway writes in an email to Science Norway.
Why the documents are missing
Waage believes there is a reason the documents are missing from the Norwegian Ministry of Foreign Affairs' archives.
"They will show that Norway was a useful errand boy for Israel," she says.
"Some documents show that Mona Juul and Terje Rød-Larsen acted as messengers to Israel on behalf of foreign minister Holst," writes Odd Karsten Tveit. "What happened later shows that the Oslo Accords of 1993 and 1995 primarily served Israeli interests, and that Norway's role was not positive for the Palestinians."
Waage has tried to get Norwegian media to write about these documents for 25 years.
"With a few exceptions, every newsroom has been afraid to dig into the network," she says. "Now many people will have to admit their mistakes and take responsibility."
The National Archives and the Ministry of Foreign Affairs want to bring Terje Rød-Larsen's archive back to Norway
In a press release dated 12 February, the National Archives of Norway announced that it is working with the Ministry of Foreign Affairs to bring the archive from the Oslo peace process back to Norway.
According to the press release, both the National Archives and the Ministry of Foreign Affairs believe that Terje Rød-Larsen's private archive from the Oslo process should be secured and preserved on Norwegian soil at the National Archives.
"As the national authority for records management and archives, it is our role to safeguard a private archive of national historical value," says national archivist Inga Bolstad. "Here it will be stored safely and securely, with appropriate access controls tailored to the information contained in the archive."
The repatriation will initially take place through dialogue, with the aim of reaching a voluntary handover. The National Archives will therefore send letters to, among others, Terje Rød-Larsen's lawyer and the International Peace Institute. The National Archives writes that Terje Rød-Larsen has stated that he considers the material a private archive and that he does not wish to hand it over to the National Archives.
In 2006, the National Archives and the Ministry of Foreign Affairs agreed that the ministry would work to secure public archival material, while the National Archives would focus on securing Rød-Larsen's private archive. In 2018, the National Archives made another attempt to take over the archive.
"This is an important archive of national significance that documents a crucial part of Norwegian administrative history. It is important to secure it for the public," says national archivist Inga Bolstad.
