The Mayor of the Municipality of Novi Grad Sarajevo, Semir Efendić, and the Mayor of the Palestinian city of Jericho, Abdul Karim Seder, signed a twinning agreement today on the occasion of December 16, the Day of the Municipality of Novi Grad Sarajevo and the 48th anniversary of its existence.
Efendić announced that he will propose an item in the municipal budget for next year to support cooperation, through infrastructure projects or scholarships for students, and if there is space, for student exchanges and return visits.
“This is the first time that we have established cooperation with a municipality from Palestine and we are very pleased about that. We are well aware of the difficult situation in Palestine, which was also difficult at a time when aggression and genocide were ongoing in BiH,” he said.
He recalled that BiH recognized Palestine as a state a long time ago and that the implementation of this recognition, among other things, implies concrete cooperation between local communities.
“We have witnessed the brutal genocide in Gaza in the past two years, which has brought the issue of a Palestinian state back into focus. We can only offer our support, which can be declarative, formal and humanitarian,” he said.
The mayor of the Palestinian city of Jericho, Abdul Karim Seder, expressed the importance of the signed agreement, emphasizing that they have so far signed about 20 agreements with cities around the world, which are reflected in the exchange of students, knowledge and the organization of return visits.
“But the most important thing for us is to tell the world what is happening to us and what the Israeli army is doing to us,” he said.
He reminded that in 1998 they were supposed to get a Palestinian state but that they never got anything, and that the Israeli army controls all the borders and that they have set up checkpoints between the cities.
“Genocide is happening in Gaza, but it is also happening to us in the West Bank. They are killing, shooting, robbing and arresting us, but all this is less visible on social networks,” he said.
The President of the Palestinian Community in Bosnia and Herzegovina Majed Maarouf said that this day means a lot to him and that this is the second agreement signed in Bosnia and Herzegovina, between Srebrenik and Palestinian Dura.
“The aggression in Gaza is still ongoing, but in the West Bank, where Jericho is located, a silent genocide is being carried out. They continue to drive people from the West Bank into Jordan, in order to empty the territories of Palestine. But the Palestinian people survived and with the help of friends they will survive,” he said.
The signing of the agreement was also attended by the deputy chairperson of the Novi Grad Municipal Council, Elma Lindov, who was the initiator and organizer of the establishment of this cooperation, Fena reports.
