Restore bridges and with them reinforce Barcelona's position as a city of encounter and dialogue. With this approach, the mayor of Barcelona, Jaume Collboni, today rectifies the decision of his predecessor, Ada Colau, who in February signed, via decree, the suspension of relations with Israel and the twinning of Barcelona with Tel Aviv.
The decision to revoke the suspension was announced this afternoon by the Commissioner for International Relations and City Promotion, Pau Solanilla. "With the reestablishment of relations we are also respecting the majority position of the plenary session of Barcelona City Council," said Solanilla. And after the signing of the decree, Colau's decision was disapproved in a plenary session on up to three occasions, in which BComú was left alone.
"We want to return to the positioning of a Barcelona that is committed to dialogue, peace, consensus and that fully exercises its Mediterranean capital status," said Solanilla, who insisted that Tel Aviv "represents the best progressive values of Israel, with more than "Thirty large demonstrations in recent months against the reactionary policies of the Netanyahu government; Tel Aviv is an indispensable city for dialogue in the Mediterranean."
The mayor will sign today the decree that annuls the temporary suspension of relations with Tel Aviv. "In these two months of municipal government, the management policy has been set and we have begun to put order in priority issues such as cleanliness, security or housing and now it is time to put order in Barcelona's international agenda," Solanilla insisted.
The announcement coincides with the start of the political course and an autumn agenda that includes events such as the Smart City World Congress, in which Israel plays a relevant role, or the meeting of European ministers within the framework of the Spanish presidency of the EU.
Solanilla has reiterated that the reestablishment of relations with Tel Aviv "is not detrimental to relations with Palestine" and has announced that Jaume Collboni's first trip outside Europe will be precisely to Palestine, "where we have ten cooperation projects underway; The commitment to Palestine is unequivocal, we do city diplomacy, cities are a good tool to rebuild peace; Barcelona must return to where it is internationally recognized, a global city that makes agreements and dialogues with everyone, this has been expressed by all socialist mayors and the will is expressed with actions, Maragall, Clos have gone to Palestine and now Collboni will go".
Days after the controversial decision -signed on February 8-, in an extraordinary plenary session, the PSC (then in the municipal government) and the opposition agreed to a proposal that, although it was not binding, urged to restore "urgently and immediately" relations with Israel and the twinning of Barcelona with the cities of Tel Aviv and Gaza, a proposal that is materialized today.
Mayor Colau justified her decision "because one cannot remain silent in the face of apartheid" and "in the face of decades of systematic violations of human rights", thus supporting the citizen initiative Barcelona amb l'apartheid no, Barcelona amb els drets humans Yes, promoted by more than 4,000 signatures, a hundred Palestinian entities and thirty Jewish organizations. A citizen initiative that did not prosper.
The suspension of institutional relations with Israel was planned during the municipal electoral campaign and after the appointment of Jaume Collboni, the mayor of Tel Aviv, Ron Huldai, sent a letter to his new counterpart in which he conveyed his desire to reestablish relations and urged to deepen and strengthen again the ties between both cities.
