Evening Telegraph (First Edition)
A place for flag of
History of the twinning with city of Nablus
THE history of twinning between Dundee and the Palestinian West Bank city of Nablus dates to June 1980 when the mayor of Nablus Bassam Shaka’a was the target of an Israeli terrorist gang’s car bomb.
He lost his legs and travelled from the West Bank to the UK to be fitted with prosthetic limbs.
Trade union links had existed between Dundee and Palestine for a while.
But when Dundee Labour councillor Colin Rennie, Ernie Ross MP and a certain young Dundee politician George Galloway met with Bassam Shaka’a in London, it was suggested a formal twinning should be established.
On November 27 1980, the decision to twin with Nablus was passed by the-then Dundee District Council in the face of considerable opposition.
Dundee’s Jewish community opposed the twinning because it was perceived as a vehicle for promoting the Palestine Liberation Organisation (PLO) which, it argued, was a terrorist organisation devoted to the destruction of the state of Israel.
Two weeks later, the Nablus mayor came to Dundee where Lord Provost Jim Gowans, Ernie Ross MP and a group of students welcomed him. By December 1980, the Palestinian flag was flying in Dundee.
In 1993, the Dundee-Nablus Twinning Association (DNTA) was established with its main aim being to build friendship and understanding between the people of Dundee and Nablus.
During the summer months, the Palestinian flag flies above the Caird Hall alongside the flags of other twin city nations. It’s due to return at the end of March.
But following the horrific Hamas attack on Israel on October 7, and with ongoing Israeli military action leading to an ongoing humanitarian catastrophe in Gaza, should Dundee City Council also fly the Palestine flag from the city chambers balcony to show solidarity with Nablus? Is there a case for flying the Israeli flag in solidarity with the victims of Hamas?
Mary McGregor, 67, convener of the DNTA, says that since October 7, a “number of requests” have been made to Dundee City Council to fly the Palestinian flag from the balcony.
This includes a petition handed in last week by the Dundee Palestine Solidarity Campaign, signed by around 500.
Flying the Palestinian flag would be on a par with the flying of the Ukraine flag in solidarity with the people of that country following the full Russian invasion on February 24 2022, she claims.
However, while she’s been “forever hopeful”, city council officials say it won’t happen.
“If you look at the balcony at the moment, the Ukrainian flag is flying – which is perfectly understandable and justified,” said Mary, 67, the first female leader of Dundee District Council in the late 1980s.
“It’s flying, not because we are twinned with anywhere in Ukraine, but because it’s the right thing to do and to show solidarity with the Ukrainian refugees in the city.
“We are saying please fly the Palestinian flag, not just because we are twinned with Nablus, but to show solidarity with what’s happening there at the moment, and we are talking about what’s happening to civilians both in Gaza and the West Bank.”
Mary, who has always been a supporter of the “oppressed”, joined Friends of Palestine during Fresher’s Week when she arrived at Dundee University in 1975.
She has been a supporter of the Palestinian cause ever since.
In Dundee, there are a number of people from Gaza, she said, including university students here on humanitarian scholarships.
They are “absolutely terrified” about what’s happening at home.
Some have lost family members. Most have lost their homes.
She added: “I would condemn
any war crimes wherever they take place by whoever they are committed.
“But what we are watching at the moment is the collective punishment of the Palestinian people – not Hamas.”
Final year Dundee University English and creative writing student Roshni Baillie, 22, is secretary of the Dundee Jewish Society which aims to provide a safe space for Jewish students to socialise.
Raised in a Jewish family in Dumfries and Galloway, Roshni said she’s found it “quite scary” being Jewish in the UK with antisemitic attacks on the rise even before October 7.
While Roshni says while she’s always felt “incredibly safe” in Dundee, she has experienced “name-calling” elsewhere.
Her family asked her to stop wearing her Star of David necklace.
She says views on Gaza tend to be a “generational thing”.
Those with family closer to Israel tend to be more supportive of Israeli government actions.
Yet despite her Jewish roots, Roshni feels the response from Israel against Gaza has been “disproportionate”.
For the sake of humanity, she is backing calls for the flying of the Palestinian flag from Dundee City Chambers – but she doesn’t think it would be helpful to fly the Israeli flag.
“From my perspective there’s this long-standing relationship that Dundee has with Palestine,” said Roshni, also editor-in-chief of the Dundee University studentrun newspaper, The Magdalen Magazine.
“I think that flying the flag isn’t condoning the actions of Hamas or anything, so I don’t see why flying it would be a problem.
“There are people suffering, so if this is something that’s even going to help the people in Dundee feel more supported then it can’t be a bad thing.
“I think younger more leftleaning Jewish people have the same sort of views that I do.”
Paul Spicker, chairman of the Tayside and Fife Jewish Community (formerly known as the Dundee Hebrew Congregation), would not be drawn directly on the flag issue.
However, he warned against any actions that inflamed tensions.
He said: “The often aggressive
support for terrorism directed at Jews has been distressing to the Jewish community.
“Whenever there is conflict in the Middle East, there are attacks on Jewish people.
“We have no direct part in this dispute, and ask people to refrain from conduct which may be seen as bullying or intimidating.”
Dundee City Council said in a statement the custom and practice of the council is to fly the Union Flag and Saltire, along with flags symbolising the city’s twinning relationships on the Caird Hall.
Dundee has a twinning relationship with Orleans in France, Wurzburg in Germany, Nablus in Palestine and Alexandria in the US.
A city council spokesperson said: “The city does not have a twinning relationship with a town or city in Israel, hence the flag of Israel is not flown.
“In April 2021 the council supported a call to recognise the State of Palestine.
“No flags are flown on the Caird Hall between the last Sunday in October and last Sunday in March in the interests of public safety and to prevent damage to flags during the winter months.
“The council’s sympathies and thoughts are with all of those who suffer, whether they be Israeli or Palestinian, and the council will not politicise or take sides in this complex matter.
“Therefore, there is no intention to fly the flag of Israel or the flag of Palestine in connection with the current conflict.”