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Keep Your Eye on Gibraltar! The Rock is back in the news. But why has this small narrow peninsula been such a bone of contention between Britain and Spain for nearly 300 years? Clearly the current promise of a solution is not good news to everyone involved. by John Ross Schroeder "Britain and Spain have set a timescale of until next summer to resolve their 300-year-old territorial dispute over Gibraltar and hope by September to have reached an agreement on all outstanding issues including sovereignty." This recent Times feature article (Nov. 21, 2001, issue) said a mouthful. And reactions have begun to emerge. These intentions have raised a storm of protest on Gibraltar itself and somewhat less so back on the mainland in Britain. The Rock has long been a symbol of British security and stability. One famous financial and savings institution was named after it. The saying still goes that something is "as solid as the Rock of Gibraltar." The continual Spanish claim Ever since Spain ceded the Rock to Great Britain by the Treaty of Utrecht (1713), the Spanish nation has periodically laid claim to this small land area situated on a narrow rocky promontory on its border. Currently Gibraltar is classified as a crown colony or dependency of Britain. The Rock has been a strategic naval and air base and, in the strong view of some observers, it still is. The Rock contains a NATO underground communications center and it is honeycombed by largely concealed defense works and arsenals. But why is the current British administration so willing to discuss its sovereignty and other thorny issues with Spain? The simple explanation is that since both Spain and Britain are members of NATO and both countries are part of the European Union, Gibraltar is ostensibly now obsolete in terms of military defense. Besides that, the British seem weary of defending their historic role on the Rock. Trouble is, the views of Gibraltar's indigenous population are not in accord with the apparent aims of the British foreign office. Gibraltarians consider themselves British The overwhelming majority of Gibraltar's current population is staunchly, even obsessively, pro-British. The locals simply do not want to become a part of Spain, notwithstanding their close geographical proximity. As The Daily Telegraph put it, "The 30,000 residents of Gibraltar are intensely suspicious about the talks the British and Spanish governments will be holding about the colony later this month" (Nov. 10, 2001).
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