Barcelona declares Palestinian cities as symbolic 11th district

ISTANBUL

Barcelona Mayor Jaume Collboni announced Tuesday that Gaza and other Palestinian cities will symbolically become Barcelona’s 11th district to enhance cooperation and solidarity.

Collboni unveiled the plan during a visit to Jordan, saying the new district would be a technical and budgetary entity within Barcelona’s municipal structure. It will complement the city’s 10 existing districts and coordinate all cooperation projects with Palestinian cities and UNRWA, the UN agency for Palestinian refugees.

“This is no longer a one-off cooperation with visits, but a permanent structure, designed to utilize the talent of municipal technicians,” he said, adding that a similar structure could be created “in Palestinian territory or, if necessary, in Jordan.”

The concept follows a precedent set in 1995 when Barcelona symbolically designated Sarajevo as its 11th district to support its recovery after the Srebrenica genocide.

The initiative, starting with an initial budget of €1 million ($1.16 million), is scheduled to begin at the end of the year and aims for a medium- and long-term horizon, including reconstruction efforts.

This week, Collboni also pledged to double UNRWA funding for food and medicine from €200,000 ($231,824) to €400,000 ($463,725), and said he would “stabilize and scale up” technical cooperation with cities like Gaza, Ramallah and Bethlehem through municipal staff, council structures and city resources.

Over the weekend, Collboni said he had planned to travel to Israel and Palestine, but Israeli authorities denied him entry.

“We were going to start a mission of cooperation and peace, paying attention to the mayors of Bethlehem and Ramallah. The objective was to know first-hand the reality of Palestinian cities and explore ways of aid from Barcelona at these critical moments,” he wrote on social media.