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Edinburgh Council rejects proposals to twin with Gaza City

Councillors refuse to allow speakers from the besieged Palestinian territory to address a debate on the issue

EDINBURGH Council rejected proposals yesterday to twin Scotland’s capital with Gaza City, after refusing to allow speakers from the besieged Palestinian territory to address a debate on the issue. 

A meeting of the council’s policy and sustainability committee decided to maintain its 2019 position of not entering new twinning agreements with other cities.

Edinburgh is paired with 10 cities around the world, including Kiev, Munich, Krakow, Munich and Nice. 

Campaigners had submitted a petition calling on the council to twin with Gaza City as a way to “show the people of Gaza City they are not alone and that Scottish people see their pain and care for their future wellbeing.” 

But the council rejected the proposal, with members raising concerns that its international team was struggling to manage the city’s existing relationships. 

Councillors did, however, pass a motion to review the local authority’s twinning and friendship process, potentially opening the door for such an agreement in the future, and to call upon the Edinburgh Partnership to do some exploratory work with Gaza on "mutually beneficial projects."

During the meeting, Green councillor Alex Staniford, whose amendment calling for solidarity with the Palestinian people and Gaza was also rejected, described the current situation in Gaza as appalling.

Afterwards, he told the Star: “While it is disappointing the more positive Green addendum promoting twinning with Gaza did not pass, committee did agree to a general review of the twinning and friendship process.

“It is our hope that this review will include measures to promote human rights and to create friendship agreements that support oppressed people the world over, including in Gaza.”

Campaigners also expressed anger at the council’s refusal to allow deputations from several speakers including Gaza City Mayor Dr Yaya Sarraj, to go ahead.

Cllr Cammy Day said that the decision had been made after receiving “legal advice.” 

Petition author Pete Gregson was also refused permission to speak. 

A motion to discuss the petition was pulled earlier this year after UK Lawyers for Israel claimed that councillors could face criminal charges for twinning Edinburgh with Gaza City. 

The group said that a twinning agreement would be illegal as Hamas, which controls the Gaza Strip, is a proscribed organisation in Britain. 

This claim was disputed by campaigners and some MPs, who argued that a twinning agreement is between two peoples, rather than political entities. 

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