The Palestinian mayor of Gaza has asked to address Edinburgh councillors next week as part of a bid to twin the two cities.
Dr. Yahya Sarraj, leader of the municipal council of Gaza City, is set to speak remotely at the Policy and Sustainability Committee on Tuesday, when members will consider a petition to form the new civic partnership.
Launched in 2019, the petition – which has gathered 362 signatures – was due to be debated by councillors in June 2020, however this was delayed as a result of Covid-19.
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Campaigner Pete Gregson, who is behind the bid, staged a rally outside Edinburgh City Chambers on Wednesday ahead of the meeting, which he will also speak at.
He said getting to this point has been "a rollercoaster", adding: "Three years ago when I first started out I went to councillors and they said 'you're nuts!' and things have slowly built."
It was in the wake of the 2018-19 Gaza border protests that Pete first conceived the idea to twin the city with Edinburgh.
"[Palestinians] were throwing themselves at fences and they were just being shot and executed on the spot. Gaza's got two million people in it surrounded by a big metal fence and these people were just running at the fence." he said.
He believes Edinburgh has a "historical debt" to Gaza with links to former UK Prime Minister Arthur James Balfour, who signed the 1917 Balfour Declaration supporting a "national home for the Jewish people" in Palestine.
His petition reads: 'We call upon Edinburgh to twin with Gaza City in the same way we are currently twinned with Munich, Xi’an, Vancouver, Santiago, Nice, Krakow, etc. Twinning could give joint economic development arrangements which Gaza City, in its current impoverished state, would clearly benefit from.
'Britain, having been to some extent the architect of the Palestinian’s misfortune by having gifted the beginnings of what is now Israel to Zionists through the 1917 Balfour Declaration, surely owes the Palestinians some recompense.
'Edinburgh, as the home university of Arthur Balfour, can play its part in helping acknowledge Britain’s historical responsibilities in the Holy Land. For Edinburgh Council to take this step to help the refugees of Gaza City could be the beginning of the UK beginning to take responsibility for the situation it helped create in the Middle East.'
Pete continued: "Edinburgh's twinned with 15 cities and most of them are moribund. I mean, we're twinned with San Diego in the US. All the other twinnings are done for cultural reasons, they're all wealthy cities like us. This is the biggest city in Palestine, it was built in 1500 BC. It's an enormous city, it's beautiful, it's got some amazing parts to it and it's very ancient.
"Dundee is twinned with Nablus, Glasgow's with Bethlehem, Edinburgh's not twinned with any Arabic place."
He stressed that "not a penny" would have to be spend by the council to form and maintain the new partnership , adding: "It's an agreement between our Lord Provost and their Mayor, that's all it is – an agreement to have friendly relations and to encourage groups to work together."
A City of Edinburgh Council spokesperson confirmed that a request to speak has been received from Gaza's mayor. Councillors will decide on whether to hear the deputation at the start of the meeting.
The Policy and Sustainability Committee will take place on Tuesday (March 29) from 10 am and will be held online. It can be streamed live on the council's website.
