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Worcester may twin with war-torn Gaza

9:49pm Tuesday 24th February 2009 in


CITY councillors have backed a motion which could lead to Worcester being twinned with Gaza City in the Middle East.

A notice of motion put forward by Alan Amos, Warndon city councillor, was passed after a carefully worded amendment tabled by David Tibbutt, councillor for Battenhall, was accepted.

The amended motion read: "The city of Worcester invite the Twinning Association to consider twinning Worcester with Gaza City."

After a passionate debate in the Guildhall council chamber the motion was passed with six abstentions.

Any further discussion of the issue now rests with members of the twinning committee who have already fostered successful links with Kleve, in Germany, Le Vesinet, France and more recently Worcester, Massachusetts, in the United States.

Gaza was the target of an Israeli bombing campaign earlier this year, sparked after rockets were launched from the territory into neighbouring Israel.

That action followed an earlier Israeli blockade of the coastal city which lasted for more than a year.

The city is currently controlled by Hamas, which were elected by Gazans at the polls.

However the group is listed as a terrorist organisation by both the European Union and the United States of America.

  • Find out more about troubled Gaza City and the Gaza Strip here.

UPDATE: Worcester News Editor Kevin Ward has been interviewed about this running story for BBC Midlands Today. The programme can be seen on BBC1 on Thursday at 6.30pm.

Comments(16)

clerken says...
8:43am Wed 25 Feb 09

So the city is backing another loser. Whats new there?

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porty says...
12:37pm Wed 25 Feb 09

I am a resident of Worcester City and I don't support twinning with Gaza, anymore than I support twinning with the districts of Israel shelled by Gaza. We shouldn't be seen as taking sides even if a few city councillors think we should. That is their own view only and shouldn't be a city councillor view. Well done Mr Tibbut

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Bitter and Twisted says...
1:10pm Wed 25 Feb 09

Thank you Thank you Thank you
you have made my day, I needed a chuckle, whatever next i dread to think....ho hum keep paying the taxes chaps the council need to fund field trips to make more stunning decisions....
one question was the photo used in the article taken in the Gaza or Angel place on a Saturday night????

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Doogie 46 says...
3:31pm Wed 25 Feb 09

No - I think it`s the Arabic spelling of Windermere Drive on the wall.

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worcester_woman says...
3:47pm Wed 25 Feb 09

Thank you - you made my day too. What a fabulous idea and a wonderful offer of support to the people of Gaza. While our local MP seems to spend his time getting involved in local issues (like bins!) our local councillors are supporting vulnerable people overseas at a time of crisis. I hope the twinning committee is supportive of this move.

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crowquill says...
4:53pm Wed 25 Feb 09

I think this is a great idea and really hope that it goes ahead. They need all the support they can get.

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KM says...
5:43pm Wed 25 Feb 09

This is disgusting!!
Another synical attempt to procure the "asian" vote.
how can it be stopped? are worcester residents going to be able to vote against it.
Worcester the faithfull,sorry,
dhimmi city

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Sergeant says...
6:19pm Wed 25 Feb 09

This was a ridiculous Labour proposal which was driven into touch by Dr. Tibutt's well worded ammendment. What will labour come up with next, shouldn't they be concentrating on helping to deliver the budget instead of wasting time with idiotic proposals like this one!

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drowningnotwaving says...
6:40pm Wed 25 Feb 09

If any BNP members get elected at the next European and local elections, please remember that like Hamas they have been elected by the people and so show them full co operation

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Logik says...
7:08pm Wed 25 Feb 09

I thought I'd gone into some twilight zone and missed the whole of March somehow and that it was now April 1st.

Twinning with Gaza, how ridiculous. Cllr Amos in my opinion is equally as ridiculous for proposing it.

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KM says...
8:47pm Wed 25 Feb 09

Could we have this splashed across the front page of the WN please?
Then the peaple can see exactly what lunatics they have voted for!
These idiots really are living in la-la land! Dont they understand that 99.99% of worcester residents do not support jihad?

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hotfuzz says...
11:34pm Wed 25 Feb 09

Wouldn't it be a nice gesture of goodwill for a paid trip for those who thought of and supported this idea to visit their twinned town and take a tour of the areain an open-top bus.

I can see the similarities between the two cities - lawlessness prevailing being the main one!

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Tp46 says...
10:18am Thu 26 Feb 09

Is this April Fools day ???

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longrangerover says...
12:06pm Thu 26 Feb 09

Are people genuinely endorsing this ridiculous idea, redolent of 1970s student unions rather than a representative council?

How offensive that they would even contemplating wasting the time of public officers like this.

As for the excuse that this was just "kicking into touch" a ridiculous Labour Party idea, why on earth wasn't it completely opposed from the off? What pros and cons are there for a twinning committee to consider? It's clearly bonkers.

What is the world coming to.

Words nearly fail me. I hope they all get the boot next time round.

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Trofim says...
11:36pm Thu 26 Feb 09

I note this Alan Amos is a distinctly dubious character, and nothing to do with Worcester. But what can you expect in a city where a bloke from Milton Keynes is the MP?

http://www.absolutea
stronomy.com/topics/
Alan_Amos

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semsem says...
8:22pm Sat 28 Feb 09

Hamas do not hide the fact that they intend to "annihilate every Israeli Jew." Were this 1939, the city Council would have twinned us with Berlin. This will cause grave damage to our town. This guy is an incompetent clown.

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