Barcelona (EFE).- The mayoress of Barcelona, Ada Colau, has announced today that the city of Barcelona temporarily suspends institutional relations with the State of Israel, including the twinning with Tel Aviv, to denounce that it is violating human rights and international law with a system of «apartheid» and as a «gesture to invite to work for peace».
The Mayor of Barcelona explained that she has sent the Prime Minister of Israel, Benjamin Netanyahu, a letter in which she communicates the decision to suspend the institutional relations of the Barcelona City Council with Israel “until the Israeli authorities put an end to the systematic violation of the human rights against the Palestinian population and fully comply with the obligations imposed on them by international law and the various United Nations resolutions”.
Ada Colau specified that Barcelona will continue to work with the Palestinian and Israeli entities that are working “to achieve peace and the end of apartheid” and has encouraged other mayors and cities to “break the silence” as well.
Barcelona suspends institutional relations with Israel, including the friendship and cooperation agreement with Tel Aviv
Colau announced this at an appearance in which she was accompanied by the spokesperson for the campaign of the citizens’ initiative in support of the Palestinian people “Barcelona with Apartheid NO, Barcelona with Human Rights, YES”, Alys Samson Estapé; the founder of the Palestinian Community of Catalonia, Salah Jamal; the president of the Association of Jews and Palestinians of Catalonia, Laurent Cohen Medina, and the deputy mayor for Social Rights, Laura Pérez.
This initiative asks Barcelona City Council to suspend institutional relations with the State of Israel, including the Barcelona-Gaza-Tel Aviv friendship and cooperation agreement, until the Israeli authorities implement the recommendations issued by international organizations to enforce compliance. of international law and the human rights of the Palestinian people.
“We are here because more than 100 entities and more than 4,000 signatures from Barcelona residents have questioned us to break relations with the State of Israel”, explained the mayoress of Barcelona, who has recognized that the decision to temporarily suspend relations with the State of Israel It has been “complicated” because Barcelona is a city committed to peace and always committed to “bridges of cooperation”.
Colau: It is a criticism of a government, not of a people or a religion
Ada Colau has also emphasized that criticism of the State of Israel is “more than legitimate” and “in no case” can it be considered as “discrimination against the Jewish population” because it is “criticism of a government, not of a people or a religion.
She has also insisted that Barcelona is a city that is proud of its Jewish heritage, as well as of the Jewish communities that today are also part of the city and that as mayor she will stand by their side against any sign of anti-Semitism.
In her letter to the Prime Minister of Israel, Ada Colau also acknowledges that the Israeli civilian population has also suffered attacks and violent episodes, which she condemns.