Parsley island

Parsley (in Arabic, ليلى or تورا‎, Laila; in Berber, Tura) is an uninhabited Spanish islet in territorial dispute by Morocco. It is located in the Strait of Gibraltar (between the Mediterranean Sea and the Atlantic Ocean), about 250 meters from the continental coast of Africa and about 8 kilometers northwest of the urban center of the Spanish city of Ceuta.

Currently it is uninhabited and there is no symbol of sovereignty on the part of either of the two countries that claim the islet as their own. Spain affirms that the island is part of its territory, although its political-administrative situation is obscure, since it is not even part of the autonomous city of Ceuta (the project for the Ceuta autonomy statute included the islet as territory of the city, but such reference was withdrawn due to the protests of Morocco) nor considered a place of sovereignty. For Morocco, its sovereignty does not offer legal doubts and forms part of its national territory, which is why it disputes its possession with Spain, which gave rise to a famous incident in 2002 (in the press release issued by the official Moroccan agency MAP, equivalent to the Spanish Diplomatic Information Office, the islet is described as being located in l'intérieur des eaux territoriales du royaume, "in the interior of the territorial waters of the kingdom"). After this incident, both countries signed a note in which they promised to return to the situation prior to the incident, so that the islet would be evacuated, without abandoning any of them, however, their territorial considerations.

Just two hundred meters separate the island from the mainland. The depth of the water at its feet reaches between 20 and 30 meters. Between the island and the mainland is the Perejil anchorage, which can shelter small boats, and has been used both by fishermen, who sought protection in bad weather, and by smugglers, who found refuge from the belligerence of the inhabitants. close.

On the east coast there are two small coves, called the northernmost King's cove and the southernmost Queen's cove. Near this cove are the remains of a tower and a cistern built by the Portuguese. The island has a cave large enough to house about two hundred people inside.

It is uninhabited and hardly has any type of flora or fauna. The climate is of the Mediterranean type. Temperatures range from 15 °C in winter to 35 °C in summer.

Pascual Madoz, in his Geographical-statistical-historical dictionary of Spain and its overseas possessions, described the island of Perejil, within the entry dedicated to the Strait of Gibraltar, as follows:

The expressed island sits at the foot of Sierra Bullones, whose mountain is inaccessible and [sic] excessively high, impracticable by the N. It rises on the sea level the so-called island 72 rods and 1/3, all of stone and covered with bushes; its figure is almost triangular and its circumference of 2,200 rods forming a bottom channel on sand, stone and sand stone, finding 14 braces up to 20 in its 2 extremes of the E. and O. and for its mediumship 6, 5 and 4 brazas, equal quality of background and the same for the same. This island and the medianity of Sierra Bullones are lined with S. 17o E.; its proximity to the lack of that saw and equality with the color of the ter. they make their distinction difficult even though they pass near their height.

Geographic data

• Geographical coordinates: latitude: 35° 54' 48,11" N, longitude 5° 25' 03,34" O.
• Extension: its dimensions are 500 meters long by 300 meters wide.
• Maximum height: very rugged relief, the highest point of this rock is at 74 meters above sea level.

Sovereignty

Sovereignty over the islet is claimed by both Spain and Morocco. One of the Spanish arguments to prove that the island is Spanish is based on the fact that the Ceuta autonomy project of 1987 included the Perejil islet within the municipal area of the city. However, this was not included in the final text of 1994 of the Statute of autonomy of the city.

After the arrival of a group of Moroccan gendarmes on the islet in 2002, later relieved by marines and subsequently evicted by Spanish troops, the island has once again been evicted (status quo ante), without there being any bilateral or multilateral treaty about who has sovereignty over the islet. Neither the Treaty of Fez of 1912 nor the Moroccan independence treaty (Joint Spanish-Moroccan Declaration of April 7, 1956) mentions the island of Perejil. According to the appearance of the Spanish Minister of Foreign Affairs, Ana Palacio, before the Joint Committee on Foreign Affairs and Defense of the Congress of Deputies, on July 17, 2002, said status quo implies:

... the abstention of acts relating to it, as well as any permanent settlement and, of course, any permanence of symbols of sovereignty.

Most of the Spanish and Moroccan populations were unaware of its existence until on July 11, 2002, when a group of six Moroccan gendarmes set up tents on a small esplanade located between the steep rock walls of the island, according to Morocco., to use it as an observatory against illegal immigration and drug trafficking. This event led to the diplomatic incident in which Spain demanded a return to the status quo prior to the Moroccan occupation.

Spain was unreservedly supported by the vast majority of the countries of the European Union, with the initial exception of France and Portugal. On the morning of July 17, in the so-called "Operation Romeo-Sierra" —radio codes of the letters R and S, "Recover Sovereignty"— and whose final cost was less than one million euros, the six Moroccan soldiers who replaced the gendarmes were evicted without offering any resistance by Spanish troops belonging to the Army's Special Operations Command (MOE), in a joint action with the Navy, which deployed numerous ships, and the Air Force, which provided cover with planes F/A-18 based in Morón (Seville). The Moroccan gendarmes were taken by helicopter to the General Command of the Civil Guard of Ceuta, from where they were transferred to the border with Morocco. Throughout that same day, the Spanish special troops were replaced by members of the Legion who remained on the islet until Morocco, through mediation by the United States, agreed to return to the status quo prior to the July 11 on the island, which has been deserted again.

At the time, the main cause of the incident was the claim by Morocco of Ceuta and Melilla. In fact, various analysts later pointed out that the disproportionate military force used by Spain to recover the islet carried an implicit warning to Morocco regarding its claims over the two North African cities and as a possible diversionary maneuver on the situation in the former Sahara. Spanish and thus be able to breach the recent resolutions in this regard taken within the UN and its Security Council.^{[citation required]}

Mythology

View of the islet of Perejil from the African coast.

Already in the XIII century B.C. C. there were Mycenaean sailors who passed the Strait of Gibraltar in search of a safer route to reach the rich amber deposits of the Baltic and North seas. These sailors brought the stories of rich lands populated with cattle, fruit trees and immense mines of precious metals and, as was the custom in Greek culture, they were forging myths about them and attributing them to the explorer par excellence of his culture: Heracles..

In his poem Gerionesis or Song of Geryon, Stesichorus tells how Hercules separated the two columns that bear his name and found an island in the Western Ocean to which called Erythia ('the red one', like one of the Hesperides^{[citation needed]}). This narration is of great importance for Iberian historiography, since it constitutes the first written text where it mentions the existence of Tartessos, which was later confirmed by archaeology. According to some contemporary authors, such as Iván Burgos, Eritia would be the island of Perejil, described as located beyond the Pillars of Hercules, to the west of the Mediterranean, already in the course of the Ocean.

In Erythia, Heracles was to finish his tenth labor, which was also to be his last. According to the myth, Erythia was the lair of the monster Gerión, who lived there with his herd of oxen, the shepherd Eurytion and his fabulous three-headed dog Ortro (brother of Cerberus). The myth tells that this hero had to cross the Libyan desert and intimidate the god Helios with his bow in order to use his cup (with which the divinity crossed the ocean every night to come out on the other side) and reach "more beyond the Towers of Hercules", kill Eurytion to steal the oxen and take them to Eurystheus, king of Tiryns.

Estesícoro himself, as well as Strabo, in the third volume of his Geography, place Erythia in Tartessos.

However, the identification of Mount Hacho de Ceuta as one of the Pillars of Hercules is not unanimous, and it is also common to identify the African column as Mount Musa, at whose feet is the island of Perejil. The Natural History by Pliny the Elder identifies Erythia with Gades, present-day Cádiz. Nor does Hope in her book Classical Mythology identify Erythia with any actual island. But without a doubt, the Canary Islands, Madeira or the Azores, place of the mythical Garden of the Hesperides, which Heracles never reached, are ruled out; it was Atlas who did it, which is why Eurystheus did not count that work.

Some authors, such as the Frenchman Victor Bérard, have identified this island as that of Ogygia, on which, according to the Odyssey, the nymph Calypso held Ulysses for seven years.

Historical Timeline

• August 21, 1415: the king of Portugal John I, with his sons Edward, Peter and Henry, conquer the city of Ceuta. The assault occurred simultaneously in two areas of the city, San Amaro and Fuente Caballo. A treaty is drafted with the Kingdom of Fez which recognizes Ceuta as Portuguese, being Perejil considered an integral part of its territory. There are still the ruins of a watchtower and an aljibe erected by the Portuguese next to the Queen's Caleta.
• 1580: After the death of Sebastian I and Enrique I of Portugal, King Philip II happens to them, so the Portuguese Crown is incorporated into the Hispanic Monarchy, maintaining its autonomy. The VII Duke of Medina Sidonia writes on 17 November 1580 from Badajoz, to Captain Juan de Mena, requesting a report on a project fortification of the island; it is later abandoned because it is extremely costly.
• 1610: According to some sources, the island is fortified, but it ends up being abandoned due to its heavy maintenance.
• 1640: When the Portuguese Restoration War occurred, Ceuta remains loyal to King Philip IV.
• 1668: treaty between Spain and Portugal. Portugal recognizes Spanish sovereignty «about Ceuta and its units» reigning Charles II.
• 1746: The Spanish government studies the fortification of the island, raising plans of it, but the idea is abandoned for the expensive and the low strategic profitability.
• 1762: Engineer Alonso de Figueroa produces a new fortification project, in which he says:...that if we fortified the island of Peregil and put batteries of twenty and four, assi in this as in the so-called tips of the ram and the friy, we would be as masters of the strait of Gibraltar as of his are the dynamarques».
• 1771: the engineer Felipe de Paz performs a new plane of the island.
• 1779: General José Orcasitas, governor of Ceuta, has the military recognition of the islet of Perejil.
• 1808: Shortly before the beginning of the War of Independence, the United Kingdom had transferred to the island a hundred infants and some artillery from Gibraltar. Spain claimed against such intrusion and the English left the island. A Royal Order of the President of the Board of Government was issued for the War and Navy ministers to prepare an expedition to recover the island on that occasion. The Board of Cadiz then established a garrison, in order to monitor from there the passage of the Napoleonic ships by the strait, thus doing some work of defense and crafting it. Shortly afterwards some English soldiers from the garrison of Gibraltar arrived to the island to strengthen the Spanish forces.
• 1813: Fernando VII orders to evacuate the island for economic reasons. The British retreat.
• 1836: The United States seeks to enter into negotiations to allow them to establish a coal station, but the United Kingdom vetoes the US claim.
• 1848: Anyera's indigenous people carry out acts of harassment against Ceuta, which led to a strong claim by Narváez to the Sultan of Morocco demanding a rectification of the borders. The Spanish decision advises Sultan Muley Abderrahaman to accept an extension of the Spanish domain to Jadu. The reaction of the British government is not expected and, not recognizing the new Spanish rights on the island of Perejil, try to invade it with the forces of the garrison of Gibraltar. Alerted by the Spanish government of British purposes, it orders a battalion of the regiment of Ceuta to occupy the island. After a new claim, the British end up recognizing Spain's rights over the controversial islet.
• 1859: Given the imminence of the Spanish-Marroque War, the British government communicates to the president of the Spanish government, Leopoldo O'Donnell the British imposition of "do not occupy any point in the Strait whose possession gave Spain a dangerous superiority for navigation», in direct reference to the island of Perejil.
• 1887: The UK once again recognizes Spanish sovereignty over Perejil. The Spanish government tries to establish a lighthouse on the island, in order to reduce the danger to navigation. The Moroccan authorities protest the placement of iron stools with the Spanish flag, which Spain claimed would serve to build a beacon, and which were eventually withdrawn by Moroccan delegates, which was interpreted as a renunciation of sovereignty. According The Spanish and American Illustration:

The humble island of Perejil, located about six miles from Ceuta, islet sterile and of few applications, has come out these days of its obscurity, for the purpose that the Government has had to place on it a lighthouse that guides the ships in those waters. The Moors of Tangier seem to have been alarmed by that work for them so immediate. They did not remember, because Spain had never used that rock, which is a fragment of our African territories. And since it is not a matter of placing but a light for everyone to see clear, what can the light offend our neighbors of Tangier? Will you hurt them in sight? Do not therefore see anything obscure, in what is so clear of justice. When the English cast a cable to Tangier, as if they wanted to to tow the people to London, they said nothing, because they were finally convinced. Close your eyes here that you don't want to see light, but let them see the fishermen and seafarers at night.
But we're happy with The Epoca: this matter must be settled calmly and amicably with the neighbours of Africa; Mr. Ortega Munilla says in a telegram aimed at The Impartial that the Spanish flag of the islet was not leased without the knowledge of the representative of Spain. There has therefore been no offense, but the preliminary of a dispute. And as for a lawsuit, this is certainly of a lower amount.

The Spanish and American Illustration - Year XXXI, not 43, November 22, 1887.

• Beginning in the 1890s: The United Kingdom intends to install a coal station, which it does not get, but the Sultan authorizes the English to draw stone from there to build dams in Gibraltar.
• 1894: the General Maritime Guide of the Ministry of Marine shows the island as Spanish. The rumor that the Sultan of Morocco would have yielded the islet to the United Kingdom, an extreme it denies.
• 1902: On June 27, Miguel de Unamuno published an article, preserved in the house-museum of the writer and philosopher in Salamanca, entitled Spain-Perejil and the island of Calipsoin the magazine Around the World. The article was an account of a previous article by Victor Bernard, published in the journal Revue de Deux Mondes, which claimed that Perejil was originally named Hispania and that it was this island that named the entire Iberian peninsula. Here, include:

This humble and modest rock is almost the same distance from the tip of Almanza and the tip of Leone, in the Strait of Gibraltar, and depends on Ceuta. It is triangular, stone, with some shrubs, of a mile of bolt and 74 meters high. It is so modest and nicknamed the islet that it is difficult to find it, because until the time is clear it cannot be distinguished from the African coast, one of whose many outgoings seems.

• 1912: Treaty of Fez between Spain and France, which delimits the area of the Spanish Protector of Morocco, without reference to the island of Perejil as part of it. However, the islet was militaryly occupied by Spain without the United Kingdom objecting.
• 1956: after the end of the Protectorate (with the signature of the Joint Hispanic-Maroque Declaration of 7 April 1956), a Spanish garrison remains in the islet. Spanish troops remained in the territory of the former protectorate until their definitive redeployment in 1961.
• c. 1961: the Spanish military garrison, formed by a corporal and four soldiers of the Sea Company, dependent on the North African Military Office, evacuates the island, since then uninhabited.
• 1961: The Spanish fold of the former protectorate ends.
• 6 July 1963: secret agreements between the head of the Spanish State, Francisco Franco and the king of Morocco, Hassan II, known as the Spirit of Barajas. Among other issues, the agreements contained the resolution, with respect to the islet of the parsley, that it would become a kind of “land of no one», so that neither of the two countries had permanent military or civilian presence in the islet.
• February 1986: the draft statute of autonomy of the city of Ceuta includes, as part of the territory of the city, the islet of Perejil and the peñón de Vélez de la Gomera. Morocco protests.
• 1991: the Treaty of Friendship, Good Neighbourhood and Cooperation between Spain and the Kingdom of Morocco is signed.
• March 1995: the Statute of Autonomy of Ceuta is approved without including the islet of Perejil within the autonomy of Ceuta.
• July 2002: the so-called incident of the island of Perejil takes place: Morocco sends a group of gendarmes to the island of Perejil claiming to be on a mission against drug trafficking (11 July). After days of increased tension Spain launches the so-called "Operation Romeo-Sierra" to apprehend the Moroccan forces and ensure the Spanish sovereignty of the island. With US mediation, direct negotiations are taking place between Morocco and Spain, leaving the Spanish troops on the island (20 July).
• On 22 July, a joint note was issued between the two Governments confirming the restoration of the status quo before these events, without abandoning any of the two countries their pretensions on the sovereignty of the islet. This was the climax of a period of diplomatic tensions between the two countries. In July the Spanish Foreign Minister travelled to Rabat and in September the Moroccan ambassador rejoined his post. Today, the island is still deserted.

The island of Parsley in popular culture

• In the movie The Child, led by Daniel Monzón, appears the islet and specifically his cave as a place chosen by the two smugglers to hide from the Guardia Civil.^{[chuckles]required]}
• In 2016 the film is released The island of Perejila Moroccan production with funding from the Junta de Andalucía, which satirically recounts the diplomatic crisis unleashed by the events of 2002.