Barcelona mayor reinstates twin city partnership with Tel Aviv

Barcelona’s new Mayor Jaume Collboni announced on Friday that he has reinstated the twin city partnership with Tel Aviv, which had been put on hold by his predecessor in February after citing Israeli actions as “apartheid” against Palestinians. However, Barcelona’s commissioner for international relations, Pau Solanilla, stated that re-establishing connections with Tel Aviv would not harm relations with the Palestinian Authority, and that Mayor Collboni’s inaugural official visit beyond Europe would be to Palestine.

“With the re-establishment of relations, we are also respecting the majority position of the plenary of the Barcelona City Council,” said Solanilla. ‘’We want to return to the positioning of a Barcelona that is committed to dialogue, peace and consensus, and that fully exercises its Mediterranean capital.’’ 

He insisted that Tel Aviv “represents the best progressive values of Israel, with more than thirty large demonstrations during the last months against the reactionary policies of the Netanyahu government; Tel Aviv is an indispensable city for dialogue in the Mediterranean.”

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The move comes despite the former mayor of Barcelona, Ada Colau, informing Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu earlier this year that the Spanish city had terminated its relations with Tel Aviv. The move was made in response to what she described as the ongoing and systematic violation of the human rights of the Palestinian people by the Israeli occupation authorities.

Colau pointed out that her decision was influenced by the voices of over 4,000 citizens and more than 100 organisations who called on the city to take a stand in defence of the human rights of Palestinians.

“At the request of more than 100 entities and thousands of Barcelona neighbours, I have just communicated to Netanyahu that we suspend institutional relations with the State of Israel due to the repeated violations of human rights of the Palestinian population and non-compliance with United Nations resolutions,” she wrote at the time.

The Palestinian Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions National Committee criticised the new Barcelona mayor’s decision to renew ties with “apartheid” Tel Aviv. “It consciously harms indigenous Palestinians and our struggle for freedom, justice and equality.” 

Barcelona City Councillor Marc Serra took to X, formerly known as Twitter, to express his anger at Collboni for giving in to the “Zionist Lobby”.

1/ Collboni ha decidido "abrazarse" a Israel justo cuando el Estado pasa por su peor crisis democratica: gobernado por la ultraderecha, con una reforma judicial q se carga la separación de poderes y un aumento de la violencia contra la población palestina.https://t.co/lmEskoJBXI

— Marc Serra Solé (@MarcSerraSole) September 1, 2023

“Collboni has decided to ’embrace’ Israel as it goes through its worst democratic crisis, governed by the far right, with a judicial reform that undermines the separation of powers, and an increase in violence against the Palestinian population,” wrote Serra. “Now Collboni says he will travel to Palestine. I wish he had done it sooner so he can witness the current apartheid situation.”

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