Belgian activists demand cancellation of Israel's 'twinning' agreement

Pro-Palestinian activists in Belgium are working to remove the status of the Brussels municipality of Ixelles and city of Antwerp as “twin cities” with the Israeli town of Megiddo.​​​​​​​

Belgian citizen Malika Hamri, the pioneer of the initiative, told Anadolu that protests have been held in front of the Ixelles municipal building since June demanding the termination of the twin city relationship established in 2012 between the municipality and Megiddo.

Hamri, who is of Moroccan origin, said that since the outbreak of the Israel-Hamas war on October 7 last year, they have been organising various support events for Palestinians.

It was during this time that the sister city agreement between Ixelles -- one of Brussels' most popular municipalities, known for its universities, cultural centres and trendy shops -- and Megiddo, the site of a prison notorious for the torture and abuse of Palestinians, caught their attention.

She said they launched a campaign on Change.org titled “Ending of the twinning between Megiddo in Israel and the municipality of Ixelles” and collected more than 1,300 signatures.

Hamri said that in the first days of their protest in front of the municipality building, the Ixelles municipality decided to suspend relations with Megiddo.

She said this was not enough for them and that they wanted a complete boycott, and therefore, they continued their protest.

Hamri said that students protesting at universities in Brussels also supported the initiative and that the police wanted to stop their demonstration in front of the municipality last week but they continued with the silent protest they organised without using microphones or music.

“September. 26 is an important date. We will organise our 14th protest, but it will also be a day of consultation. We did request and they did put this issue on the council’s agenda to have an open discussion about which party will support the continuation and which one will end it so citizens can know exactly what the stance is of any political party,” she added.

Drawing attention to prison in Megiddo

On October 13, before Belgian local elections, Hamri underlined that they want to see a clear stance from the municipality of Ixelles that there will be no going back.

“There is a prison in Megiddo right now where there are nearly 1,000 Palestinians, and among them kids. Nearly 100 children are now detained, tortured, and all this is also documented, even by Israeli NGOs like B'Tselem. Lately, they put out a report of violations of all kinds of human rights. All this is very well documented.”

Hamri said that after Ixelles, they will make the same request to the municipality of Antwerp, which is a twin city of Haifa in Israel.