By Juan Carlos Dominguez Taño

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The mayor of Barcelona, Jaume Collboni, spoke at the launch of the initiative at an event attended by his counterparts from Ramallah (Issa Kassis), Bethlehem (Maher N. Canawati), and Gaza City (Yahya Al-Sarraj), via video presentations.

The proposal is reminiscent of a similar one from 30 years ago, which was relevant in the reconstruction of Sarajevo. Now Barcelona wants to contribute to a peace policy, as Colboni pointed out.

The mayors of Ramallah and Bethlehem, both in the West Bank, and of the capital of the Gaza Strip, thanked Barcelona for its support and the creation of District 11.

According to the proponents of the idea, District 11-Palestinian Cities will have a political and technical structure and a budget, like its previous 10 versions.

In this regard, the deputy mayor of Barcelona, Maria Eugenia Gay, will be a councilor for District 11-Palestinian Cities and will have an annual budget of 1.5 million euros, which will increase the current resources allocated to cooperation with Palestinian cities by 66 percent.

It was learned that the program will work in all areas agreed upon with Palestinian cities, such as urban planning, public space, water and urban greenery, resilience, health, education, economic development, among other aspects.