OCCUPIED JERUSALEM,(Palestine Foundation Information Center) Israel’s population and immigration authority announced on Friday that Barcelona Mayor Jaume Collboni had been denied entry into Israel, hours before his scheduled arrival.
In a statement, the Israeli interior ministry confirmed that the move was made “in accordance with the “entry to Israel law” and in coordination with the ministry of foreign affairs and the national security council.
The decision followed a series of condemnation statements by Collboni in recent months, as well as a resolution passed by Barcelona’s city council in May to sever ties with Israel over its crimes and violations in the occupied Palestinian territories.
“The suffering and death in Gaza over the past year and a half and recent attacks by the Israeli government make any relationship unviable,” Collboni told the council recently.
The city council also suspended its 1998 friendship agreement with Tel Aviv “until respect for international law is restored and the basic rights of Palestinians are respected.” And it instructed the Port of Barcelona and trade show organizer Fira de Barcelona not to host Israeli entities or companies involved in weapons trade or profiting from Israel’s war wars in Gaza.
The mayor had planned to visit Occupied Jerusalem and also to meet with Palestinian Authority officials in the West Bank. The Catalan Spanish newspaper Ara reported that he had been invited by the mayors of Bethlehem and Ramallah.
The Israeli occupation regime has tightened its restrictions on foreign dignitaries and public figures who oppose or condemn its ethnic cleansing practices against the Palestinian people, threatening to punish anyone who criticize or question its actions.
