10 signatures reached
To: Saffron Walden Town Council
REQUEST RECOGNITION OF Saffron Walden’s LONGSTANDING Friendship with Bethlehem since 2017
We, the undersigned residents of Saffron Walden, respectfully ask Saffron Walden Town Council to publicly recognise and celebrate its longstanding friendship with Bethlehem on 29 November 2026, the United Nations International Day of Solidarity with the Palestinian People.
In 2017, Saffron Walden Town Council entered into a formal friendship agreement with the Municipality of Bethlehem, intended to develop friendship, cooperation and goodwill between our two communities.
For 2026, as 29 November falls on a Sunday, we ask the Council to mark this friendship over the weekend of 28–29 November through:
In 2017, Saffron Walden Town Council entered into a formal friendship agreement with the Municipality of Bethlehem, intended to develop friendship, cooperation and goodwill between our two communities.
For 2026, as 29 November falls on a Sunday, we ask the Council to mark this friendship over the weekend of 28–29 November through:
- flying the Palestinian flag from the Town Hall;
- displaying information about Saffron Walden’s friendship with Bethlehem and why the occasion is being marked;
- sharing traditional celebratory food from Bethlehem as part of a small community event.
We believe this would be a positive gesture of friendship, celebration and respect between our two communities.
The Saffron Walden Peaceful Assembly will provide the Palestinian flag if required, at no cost to the Council.
Why is this important?
SUPPORTING STATEMENT TO SAFFRON WALDEN TOWN COUNCIL
Recognising Saffron Walden’s Friendship with Bethlehem
This statement accompanies the petition from residents asking Saffron Walden Town Council to publicly recognise its existing friendship with Bethlehem on 29 November 2026, the United Nations International Day of Solidarity with the Palestinian People.
The Particular Connection with Bethlehem
This is not simply a request for the Council to recognise an international event. Saffron Walden has its own direct civic relationship with a Palestinian community.
On 10 April 2017, Saffron Walden Town Council approved a formal friendship agreement with the Municipality of Bethlehem, following an initiative associated with the then Mayor, Cllr Sarfraz Anjum, and Deputy Mayor, Cllr Richard Freeman.
In announcing the agreement, Cllr Anjum described it as:
“a fantastic opportunity to develop friendship between the communities”
“a special town which is inter-linked to Jesus’s unwavering message that we should love and respect one another.”
“This message is as important today as ever.”
Nearly ten years later, we believe those words remain an appropriate expression of the relationship between our two communities.
The Purpose of the Friendship
The friendship was conceived as an opportunity to encourage friendship, inter-faith understanding and cultural connections between the people of Saffron Walden and Bethlehem.
Contemporary discussion surrounding the establishment of the relationship emphasised bringing communities of different faiths and cultures together, alongside the potential for stronger links between Saffron Walden’s churches and Bethlehem’s Christian community and holy sites.
The friendship was therefore about more than a formal agreement between two municipal authorities. At its heart was an aspiration to develop people-to-people relationships, mutual understanding and goodwill. Those principles remain relevant today.
Why 29 November?
The United Nations International Day of Solidarity with the Palestinian People has been observed annually since 1978.
Bethlehem is a Palestinian city. We therefore believe 29 November provides a natural and internationally recognised occasion on which Saffron Walden can give visible expression to the friendship it established with Bethlehem.
The request does not require the Town Council to determine or adopt a position on the wider political and military questions surrounding Israel and Palestine. It asks the Council to recognise an existing civic friendship between communities on an appropriate international day.
Within that context, flying the Palestinian flag is intended as one element of a wider gesture of friendship, celebration and respect, alongside information about the relationship and a small community celebration of Bethlehem’s culture and heritage.
Looking Ahead to Ten Years of Friendship
2027 will mark ten years since Saffron Walden Town Council established its formal friendship with the Municipality of Bethlehem.
We believe this provides a valuable opportunity to revisit the original aspirations behind the friendship and consider how the relationship can be renewed and strengthened for the future.
We would welcome the Council re-establishing direct contact with Bethlehem Municipality and exploring ways in which the tenth anniversary could be appropriately recognised during 2027.
This might include civic, cultural, educational and inter-faith links between the two communities, together with exploring the possibility of inviting the Mayor of Bethlehem, or another representative nominated by Bethlehem Municipality, to visit Saffron Walden as part of the tenth-anniversary programme.
Consistent with the Council’s Civic Role
Saffron Walden already uses its flagpoles to mark significant civic and international occasions and to demonstrate friendship and solidarity with communities, including Commonwealth Day and Pride and through the flying of the Ukrainian flag.
There is also precedent elsewhere in local government for marking 29 November by flying the Palestinian flag, including Sheffield City Council and, following a resolution in November 2025, Rotherham Metropolitan Borough Council.
The proposed recognition of Bethlehem therefore sits within an established civic tradition of using significant occasions to express friendship and solidarity.
Local Support
Since November 2023, members of the Saffron Walden Peaceful Assembly have gathered peacefully outside the Town Hall at 12 noon each Saturday.
The petition demonstrates wider local support for a constructive civic gesture that connects this concern with a relationship the Town Council itself established in 2017.
The Request
We respectfully ask the Council to:
- Mark the United Nations International Day of Solidarity with the Palestinian People over the weekend of 28–29 November 2026 through a positive civic celebration of Saffron Walden’s friendship with Bethlehem, including flying the Palestinian flag from the Town Hall, displaying information about the friendship, and supporting a small community celebration of Bethlehem’s culture and heritage;
- Consider incorporating recognition of 29 November into its civic calendar in future years;
- Recognise the approaching tenth anniversary of the 2017 Saffron Walden–Bethlehem Friendship Agreement and consider how that friendship can be renewed and strengthened during 2027; and
- Re-establish contact with the Municipality of Bethlehem and explore opportunities for civic and community engagement, including the possibility of inviting the Mayor of Bethlehem, or a nominated representative, to Saffron Walden during the tenth-anniversary year.
The Saffron Walden Peaceful Assembly is happy to provide a suitable Palestinian flag at no cost to the Council.
We believe these are peaceful, proportionate and constructive requests. They give practical expression to Saffron Walden’s friendship with Bethlehem and provide an opportunity, as its tenth anniversary approaches, to renew the values and aspirations upon which that friendship was established.
As the Mayor said when the agreement was announced in 2017:
“We should love and respect one another. This message is as important today as ever.”
Link TO News Article
https://www.cambridge-news.co.uk/news/local-news/town-near-cambridge-now-best-12886069
Link TO News Article
https://www.cambridge-news.co.uk/news/local-news/town-near-cambridge-now-best-12886069
How it will be delivered
Directly to Saffron Walden Town Council for consideration at the 12th October General Council Meeting
