Belgian city of Vervieus freezes its relations with Israel
The city of Vervieuta in Belgium announced the severing of its relations with the occupying state, in response to its crimes of apartheid against the Palestinians, and its repeated violation of the rights of the Palestinian people.
The city’s decision comes in the wake of similar decisions taken by a number of European municipalities earlier.
The Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions (BDS) movement stated that this decision came in order to “strengthen the support of the Palestinian people,” noting that Vervito is the latest European city to sever its ties with the Israeli apartheid regime.
It is noteworthy that the Belgian city council of Liège decided last April to freeze its relations with Israel, because its regime is based on “apartheid, colonialism and military occupation.”
On the seventeenth of the same month, the mayor of Belém in Brazil, Edmilson Rodriguez, announced the freezing of all institutional relations with Israel, including the cancellation of the twinning agreement with Tel Aviv, in response to Israel’s commission of the crime of apartheid against the Palestinians, and its repeated violation of the rights of the Palestinian people. .
The Norwegian capital, Oslo, decided last April to exclude companies that contribute directly or indirectly to the illegal Israeli settlement project.
Last February, the mayor of Barcelona (Catalonia, Spain) decided to suspend institutional ties with the Israeli apartheid regime.
In turn, the Palestinian National Committee (BNC), the broadest coalition in Palestinian civil society that leads the Boycott Israel (BDS) movement globally, welcomed Vervieuta’s decision, and praised the tireless work of Belgian civil society that made this possible.
It urged cities around the world to follow the example of these municipalities, which have frozen their relations with the Israeli apartheid regime, in support of the Palestinian struggle to dismantle apartheid.
