Through the case study of the contested British Overseas Territory of Gibraltar, this paper contributes to discussions on ‘territorial volumes’ by exploring the role of the ‘elemental’ in the protr...

Rock, water, air and fire: Foregrounding the elements in the Gibraltar-Spain dispute

PROTESTS, JEERS, AND CURSES greeted British Foreign Secretary Jack Straw on a May 3, 2002 visit to Gibraltar. In view of Britain's role as administering power and de facto protector of the small but strategic Mediterranean territory -- and in view of the overwhelming pro-British sentiment of the local government and inhabitants -- such tumult seized media attention in Europe. It hardly garnered a column-inch, however, in America. One of the last remnants of the far-flung British Empire, Gibraltar and its fate nonetheless possess considerable significance for the United States. How Prime Minister Tony Blair and his Labour cabinet are addressing Gibraltar should therefore receive attention within the Beltway appropriate to the ranking foreign and security policy issues of the day. The Gibraltar problem Quintessential symbol of tenacity and independence, the Rock -- the moniker derives from Gibraltar's unmistakable geological profile -- belonged to Spain from the Reconquista through the War of the Spanish Succession. Britain in 1704 conquered the territory, guardian of the straits that link the Atlantic to the Mediterranean, and Spain confirmed the shift of fortune with a treaty signed at Utrecht in 1713, granting Britain sovereignty in perpetuity. Over time, Gibraltar would serve the British as an indispensable naval (later, air) base, and its population, a mix of peoples from the British Isles and Mediterranean -- including Sephardic Jews expelled from Morocco -- took on a distinctive character. English-speaking and governed by quintessentially British institutions, the Gibraltarians now thrive as a civilian economy centered around shipping and financial services. (1) Regrettably, however, their territory has become an object of European horse-trading. Talks over its future have stopped and started in halting fashion for decades but received new impetus this year from a desire at 10 Downing Street to cut a deal with Spain. Tony Blair apparently believes that handing over the territory to Spain -- and thus placating a nationalist hue and cry among certain constituents there -- could purchase an alliance with Madrid, in turn useful perhaps in the internal struggles of the European Union. The problem confronting the prime minister in his hoped-for exercise in Brussels realpolitik lies in the Gibraltarians themselves. They have made plain their devotion to sovereignty through referenda, protests, and government policy -- and just as plain that they want nothing to do with Spain. The Treaty of Utrecht is an instrument on which, ironically enough, Spain in some part bases its claim to Gibraltar. Though the treaty ceded Gibraltar to Britain in perpetuity, its tenth article provided that, in the event that Britain relinquished Gibraltar, Spain would have the right to reclaim possession. On a number of occasions, Spain attempted to take Gibraltar back by force, carrying out a siege from 1779 to 1793. All Spanish exertions in that direction failed, as Gibraltar developed its reputation as the British Empire's impregnable redoubt. Yet Spain continued to pursue what grew into a national ambition to retrieve the lost territory, albeit more recently by diplomatic means and sanctions rather than military aggression. Resolution 2429, adopted by the United Nations General Assembly in 1968, determined that the United Kingdom should relinquish sovereignty over Gibraltar and allow Article x of the Treaty of Utrecht to effect retrocession to Spain. The United Kingdom expressed the view that Resolution 2429 violates Article 73 of the United Nations Charter, which provides for the primacy of the wishes of the inhabitants of a non-self-governing territory in determining the disposition of the territory. A referendum in September 1967, in which over 95 percent of the electorate voted, showed 44 Gibraltarians preferring incorporation into Spain and 12,138 favoring continued association with Britain. …

Thomas D. Grant

Papers

Gibraltar on the Rocks: The American Stake in a Sovereignty Dispute