[Before you read this, please read this: Scottish Information Commissioner agrees to investigate Edinburgh Council – Twin Edinburgh with Gaza (twingaza.com)]
Also note – the twinning petition was lodged in April 2019; three months later, the Chief Executive persuaded the Councillors to agree that “Edinburgh should not twin with any more cities”.
Letter sent to Edinburgh Cllrs on 12th August 2022
Dear Councillor,
As you know, our Chief Executive Andrew Kerr reserves absolute control over Council affairs and is empowered to intervene where he considers the security of the City is at stake. I give two illustrations that suggest Mr Kerr may be doing his utmost to “protect the Council” against Gaza twinning:
FIRSTLY, I submitted an FOI in March- directly after my last petition had been withdrawn from the Council Policy Committee agenda, on Andrew Kerr’s orders.
The Council officers’ initial response to my FOI was laughable, so I sought a review, with no result. I then went to the Scottish Information Commissioner, who have now issued a Decision Notice against Edinburgh Council in respect of the Council’s “failure to respond” to my request for a review within Freedom of Information (Scotland) Act 2002 timescales.
My action with the Commissioner’s office has finally led to your officers giving me a few answers (see them here).
Q. Why was the petition to twin Edinburgh with Gaza removed from the Council website?
A. “The Petition was removed in error by the Council’s Committee Services Team…”
[Initially, the Council had declared that all closed petitions were deleted from the Council website. I pointed out this was not the case; for of the dozens there only mine had been removed.]
Your officers have now agreed, after 5 months of badgering by me, to reinstate the deleted petition to the Council website. See it at www.edinburgh.gov.uk/directory-record/1454818/twinning-edinburgh-with-gaza
Q. I had been told in Feb 2020 that my petition would be heard at the June Committee meeting, it was withdrawn and I never received any more information until my post-COVID requests. I asked why it was removed from the June Policy Committee agenda.
A. “The Service cannot account as to why you were not informed of the change of plans regarding the 25 June 2020 Committee and consider it to have been a case of human error.” [presumably again by the Committee Services Team].
Q. Why was my petition withdrawn from the 29th March 2022 Policy Agenda just 18 hours before it was due to be discussed?
A. “The item was withdrawn from being heard at the Committee in order to provide the opportunity for Council Officers to give full consideration to legal matters raised since publication of the Committee agenda.”
Q. In light of the fact that Council Leader Adam McVey declared to Lord Provost Frank Ross by text on 28th March (which can be viewed here) that the Israeli Authorities had warned Councillors they could face legal action if they discussed Gaza, even in a negative way, can you indicate what was said by Israel?
A. “Unfortunately, we are unable to provide you with the information requested because it is not held by the Council. The Council has not been approached by the Israeli authorities.”
So- there are two very surprising human errors here. And twice that Policy Committee have been denied the chance to discuss twinning. And I ask you- how can the Council not be in possession of the material that led to the decision to remove an item from a Council agenda? Does Andrew Kerr know where it is? And why deny Israeli pressure? Or did the Chief Exec declare to Adam McVey on the 28th March that the Israelis had been involved, as a pretext to removing the item for discussion, when this was not the case?
SECONDLY, I lodged my Council Petition requesting twinning in April 2019. Just four months later, as the petition passed the number of signatures needed to assure it would go before Committee, the Chief Executive convinced Policy Committee to declare “there would be no more twinning”. ( in Item 7.4 – Edinburgh International Activity Report.pdf ; see “5.10.6 It should be clear that no more new twinning activity should take place.”) .
I know he will make the same statement again the next time it goes before Committee, in his background paper, for he already made this objection in the paper he submitted for the 29th March meeting (see Item 7.8 – Petition for Consideration – Twinning Edinburgh with Gaza City.pdf)
Of course my petition was lodged in April 2019 back when Edinburgh Council still did twinning, and will claim that my bid has precedence because it called for an action four months before Committee decreed that it would not. I think that it is unfair for this later decision to be held against my petition.
I continue to maintain that it’s most unfair to allow the Chief Executive’s views to undermine the prospects of 750,000 people living in Gaza City, with whom we might develop a civic relationship, to help them break free from their international isolation and illegal collective punishment.
For those of you who wish me to step aside and resubmit this bid, this is another important reason why a resubmission of the Gaza petition by someone else would be rejected by officers. For it would be declared invalid because the Chief Exec will say that it contravened Edinburgh Council Policy.
Finally, for the 59 of you who ignored the chance to hear what the Gaza Mayor had to say yesterday, just a few days after his city had been pummelled by Israeli bombs, I ask you to reconsider your decision. There was just one Cllr at yesterday’s meeting, Depute Provost Cllr Lezley Cameron. At the meeting, the Gaza Municipality showed this 4-minute film https://youtu.be/bjMTjbiGz9Q
You can also see my recent letter of support from my friend Rabbi Weiss here; I ask you- would he send me a letter if he believed me antisemitic?
Yours sincerely,
Pete Gregson (Chair), Edina-Gaza Twinning Association (EGTA)
SEE THE FULL FOI HERE: Information relating to Twinning with Gaza Petition – a Freedom of Information request to City of Edinburgh Council – WhatDoTheyKnow
EDINBURGH COUNCIL’S FULL RESPONSE CAN BE READ HERE