Gaza council bids farewell to Barcelona: ‘Tell coming generations how lovely Palestinians were’
International cooperation head in Middle East city sends message to Catalan counterparts before Israeli expected invasion
The international cooperation head in Gaza city council, Mohammed al-Shaqra, has bid farewell to his counterparts in Barcelona in some messages prior to the expected Israeli invasion of his municipality.
Shared on X, formerly Twitter, by the Catalan capital’s Director of Global Justice and International Cooperation Services, David Llistar, the texts sound like a goodbye letter after both cities have shared a friendship agreement for over a quarter of a century, ever since September 24, 1998.
“I do not know if we will be able to stay in contact in the coming days, so please tell the coming generations about us, if we are not existing anymore, how beautiful and lovely the people of Palestine were and how affiliated they were to their land and case” the message written by al-Shaqra reads.
“It was my pleasure to work with you for the past years, along with your colleagues,” he told his counterparts in Barcelona. “May God rest us in peace.”
The twinning agreement has included several cooperation projects and technical assistance, the constitution of a network of European cities twinned with Gaza and a citizen commission, Barcelona for Palestine.
The projects carried out or undergoing with the Catalan city’s cooperation include the construction of the Barcelona Peace Park, in the neighborhood of Tal al Hawa of Gaza. Inaugurated in 2005 by the then mayor Joan Clos, together with his counterpart in the Palestinian city, Nasri Musbah Khayal, the area was destroyed during the 2010 Israeli war on the Gaza Strip, and then rebuilt with Catalan funding.
Other projects include one on technical assistance in questions of mental health, another one of support in ophthalmological medicine in the hospitals of the Gaza strip, and the construction of infrastructures and urbanization of the neighborhood of Al-Nasser.