He Barcelona’s town hall He is convinced that he will be able to maintain the cooperation projects that takes place in Loop and west bank despite having broken relations with Israelthe country that controls as occupying power access to the Palestinian Territories. This was stated by its director of Global Justice and Cooperation, david llistar, in response to the information published this week by EL PERIÓDICO, which stated that the break with the Jewish state will further complicate the work that Barcelona has been doing to help the Palestinian people for more than two decades. “The cooperation with Gaza it has not ended despite the blockades that we have suffered for years by Israel. We do not believe that they are going to adopt any extra limitation because there is little margin for the situation to worsen,” says Llistar. In west bank the work has been a little easier so far, but here too the City does not expect new restrictions following the breakup. “We do not think that Israel is going to close its doors on us or block people sharing& rdquor ;, adds Llistar.
The director of cooperation maintains that, under the mandate of the mayoress Ada Colau“the global justice and the human rights” They have been the main vectors that have guided Barcelona’s external action. “And at the same time it has been oriented towards making the actors that violate global justicebe the Iran theocratic, Turkey or the Spanish government when it outsources border management& rdquor ;, says the municipal official. After Colombiawhich signed a peace agreement with the guerrillas in 2016, the Palestinian Territories They have been the ones that have received the most funds in recent times from the Barcelona cooperation. But in recent years it has become very difficult to work there due to the restrictions imposed by Israel. Two years ago his Government declared “terrorist organizations” To six Palestinian NGOs that served as a counterpart to their Spanish and international counterparts with which Barcelona works on projects of indirect cooperation. And, at the same time, the City Council technicians have years without being able to enter Gaza. The last time they tried without success was in 2018.
obstacles to NGOs
“In recent years, the criminalization of NGOs of human rights that exercise cooperation in Palestine& rdquor ;, affirms Llistar. “And the organizations that work there have been the ones that have promoted the rupture, fed up with the blockade and the lack of democratic guarantees they face when working on the ground& rdquor ;, he adds after emphasizing that the measure came after a participatory process of collecting signatures. Despite the obstacles, several projects are still alive. In Gaza they focus on the development of the coastlinein the traffic management and in the systems rainwater collection. The work has to be done by videoconference and with occasional visits by the Palestinian technicians to Barcelona.
In the West Bank there are active projects of direct cooperation in Nablus and Belenwhere efforts are being made to reactivate the commercial life of the city center through better mobility and traffic management, a project in which the Spanish Cooperation.
Twinning with Isfahan
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Among the detractors of the City Council’s policy towards the Jewish State, Colau has been accused of having applied a double standards having suspended the twinning with Tel Aviv (and St. Petersburg) when others such as the one with Isfahanone of the cultural capitals of Irananother country known for its human rights abuses. “We could also do it perfectly with Isfahan. We have not done it because nobody has asked us to, neither from Iran nor from here,” says Llistar.