The mayor of Barcelona has cut her city’s official ties with Israel, branding Israel as an ‘apartheid’ state for its crimes against the Palestinian people.
Wednesday’s decision by Mayor Ada Colau has little practical impact – with the most concrete effect being a halt to its 25-year-old twinning agreement with Tel Aviv.
But the city’s statement, which has considerable symbolism and is home to one of the most well-known football clubs in the world, adds to the rising chorus of people who have called Israel an apartheid state. Israel rejects these charges as anti-Semitic and delegitimizing and referred to the choice as “unfortunate.”
In a letter to Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, Colau said the step came in response to a campaign by dozens of local groups and thousands of activists.
She cited a number of Israeli policies, including its 55-year military occupation of the West Bank, its annexation of east Jerusalem and its construction of settlements on lands claimed by the Palestinians for a future state.
“As mayor of Barcelona, a Mediterranean city and defender of human rights, I cannot be indifferent to the systematic violation of the fundamental rights of the Palestinian population,” she wrote. “It would be a severe mistake to apply a policy of double standards and turn a blind eye to a violation that has been, for decades, widely verified and documented by international organizations.”
In recent years, three well-known human rights groups – Human Rights Watch, Amnesty International and Israel’s B’Tselem – have accused Israel of apartheid, both inside the country as well as in the occupied territories.
