Gibraltar Land Dispute, a new fight between the Europeans

By Dana Malcolm

Staff Writer

#Gibraltar, February 9, 2022 – Britain, Spain, Argentina and are all embroiled in a multi-country dispute over land; the land in question? Fellow UK territories: Gibraltar and the Falklands.

Spain recently gave Argentina a nod of support in their bid to claim The Falklands, a British overseas territory as their own. The move was criticized by the Falkland Islands Government as a bid to further Spain’s claim to Gibraltar, which is another British overseas territory.

Spain signed Gibraltar over to the British in 1713 but in recent years has maintained that the agreement was signed under duress and the country is now boldly claiming rights to sovereignty over the nation.

According to Britannica (excerpt):  Gibraltar, British overseas territory occupying a narrow peninsula of Spain’s southern Mediterranean coast, just northeast of the Strait of Gibraltar, on the east side of the Bay of Gibraltar (Bay of Algeciras), and directly south of the Spanish city of La Línea. It is 3 miles (5 km) long and 0.75 mile (1.2 km) wide and is connected to Spain by a low, sandy isthmus that is 1 mile (1.6 km) long. Since the 18th century, Gibraltar has been a symbol of British naval strength, and it is commonly known in that context as “the Rock.”

The latest flare-up was caused by an ambitious 250 million pound plan to turn the sea around Gibraltar into viable land which local news agencies report would produce 1 million extra square feet of land for the tiny nation. Spain objects to the move and says the treaty only applied to the “city and castle of Gibraltar, together with its port, defenses, and fortresses that belong to it”.