City of Liège votes to boycott the State of Israel
After Barcelona and Oslo, Liège is the third European city to take boycott measures against Israel.
On Monday evening, the Liège Municipal Council passed a motion introduced by the Belgian Workers' Party (PTB) which calls for a boycott of the Israeli state.
The Socialist Party (PS), as well as smaller local parties, VEGA and Verts Ardents, also voted in favour of the boycott. Liberal and centrists parties MR and Les Engagés voted against it.
The motion introduces "a temporary suspension of all relations with the state of Israel and the institutions that are complicit until the Israeli authorities put an end to the systematic violation of the Palestinian people", Le Soir reports.
"This historic decision in Belgium is inspired by decades of nonviolent resistance by the Palestinian people for freedom, justice and equality," said the Belgian Palestinian Association (ABP) in response. "We hope that the decision of the City of Liège will inspire other municipalities in Belgium, Europe and around the world not to help or assist an apartheid regime."
The Eastern Belgian city has no existing formal links to Israel or its Embassy in Brussels, but the measure prevents the future possibility of such relations. Even so, the gesture is seen as largely symbolic.
https://www.brusselstimes.com/belgiu...tate-of-israel