In a non-binding vote, Barcelona’s city council has rejected left-wing mayor Ada Colau’s decision to cut ties between the Catalonian capital and its twin city Tel Aviv.
However, the council’s vote is symbolic given as the mayor has power over such arrangements.
Demonstrators chanted “no to apartheid” and displayed Palestinian flags during Wednesday’s debate.
Aquest matí @luchainternacio defensant a Ajt de Barcelona el trencament de l’agermanament amb Tel Aviv pic.twitter.com/n2KYiiZLSG
— Esther del Alcázar (@EstherLluita) February 15, 2023
Councillors from the Barcelona en Comú (Barcelona in Common) party, who currently hold minority rule over the city’s council in coalition with the Socialists' Party of Catalonia, were the only representatives to back the mayor’s move.
A further proposal to increase Barcelona’s links with Palestinians and “anti-occupation” human rights groups was also voted down.
The proposal to end the twinning was originally put forward by a group called End Complicity with Israel, which claims the support of 112 social entities, among them pro-Palestinian, feminist, immigrant, and LGBT+ organisations.
Barcelona signed a friendship and cooperation agreement with both Tel Aviv and Gaza City in 1998.
The mayor of Madrid, José Luis Martínez-Almeida, has since offered a replacement agreement between his city and Tel Aviv, saying:"Madrid is clear that we have to strengthen our relations with a democracy, a State governed by the rule of law like Israel."
