Disputed status of the isthmus between Gibraltar and Spain Totally Explained

The Gibraltar territory nowadays contains an 800-metre section of the isthmus that links the Rock with mainland. Spain doesn't acknowledge British sovereignty over Gibraltar beyond the fortified perimeter of the town as at 1704. The United Kingdom claims that their title to the southern part of the isthmus is based on continuous possession over a long period.

Positions of each side

One of the sources of the dispute is surely the lack of appropriate definitions of what had been actually ceded to Great Britain. The Treaty of Utrecht didn't include any map or specific description of the ceded elements, so that the Article X is subject to different interpretations from each side. According to the Article X of the Treaty of Utrecht, dominion is ceded over the town and castle of Gibraltar, together with the port, fortifications, and forts thereunto belonging (Article X of the Treaty of Utrecht

).
When peace prevailed, the Spanish occupied half of the 'neutral territory' and the British a corresponding half, with a fence demarcating the frontier. Today the Gibraltar part of the isthmus contains two housing estates, a marina, sporting facilities, the cemetery and the Gibraltar airport.

Spanish position

Spain doesn't acknowledge British sovereignty over Gibraltar beyond a literal interpretation that considers that forts refer to the fortified perimeter of the town. Therefore, the Treaty wouldn't have ceded any part of the isthmus. Spain considers that such an area was occupied by the UK since the 19th century (1815), and such occupation didn't grant UK sovereignty over it, according to International Law. For the same reason, British sovereignty isn't acknowledged by Spain, considering itself instead to be owner of the territory (see map

). In December 2, 1987, in a joint British-Spanish declaration about the use of the airport, as well as in several EU acts, the UK has acknowledged that Spain disputes the sovereignty of the isthmus (The ... arrangements ... are understood to be without prejudice to the respective legal positions of Spain and the United Kingdom with regard to the dispute over sovereignty over the territory in which the airport is situated. ), although they reject the basis for that dispute.
Referring to the current demarcation, Spanish official terminology always uses the word "fence" instead of "frontier" or "border", since it doesn't acknowledge the possibility of having a frontier with what Spain considers to be its own territory.

British position

The United Kingdom claims that their title to the southern part of the isthmus is based on continuous possession over a long period It was also a principle that a fortress controlled all territory within the range of its guns.
After the Spanish attack (In breach of Spain's written promise in the Treaty of Utrecht) in 1727 was repulsed by the British, the treaty of Seville (1729) was the scene of long arguments between the Government of Spain and the United Kingdom as to how far North the 'undoubted right' of Britain extended from the North face of the Rock and it was finally accepted that a distance of 600 Toises, being more than 2 cannon shots distance between the British guns and the Spanish guns, would be considered 'the neutral ground', and so it continued thereafter.

Gibraltar position

The Gibraltar government rejects Spain's argument in its entirety. They point out that as "Utrecht" ceded the town and castle of Gibraltar, together with the port, fortifications, and forts thereunto belonging and there were such "fortifications and forts" along the line of the current frontier (Devil's Tower, El Molino) that this area was included in the cession. Furthermore, they argue, international practice at the time was that all territorial cessions carried an extended area equivalent to the length of two cannon shots. In any case, the UK further bases its claim upon what they consider established legal precedents that grant property rights over an area which is continually occupied and made sole use of, for an extended period. In practice the land is now an integral part of the territory of Gibraltar on one side, and similarly on the Spanish side and although there may be a line on the map there's no longer any indication of the boundary of the 'neutral ground'.
Maps (External Link

), (External Link

) and (External Link

) from Global Geografia

(in Italian) show the evolution of the British occupation of the isthmus as well as the location of the two items that, according to the Gibraltarian government, were part of the forts ceded in the Treaty of Utrecht (Torre del Diablo, Devil's Tower, and Molino). The Torre del Molino is marked with an "F"
The 2006 Gibraltar Constitution contains the following preamble, repeated from the 1969 constitution, which binds the British Government to respect the wishes of the Gibraltarians in relation to any change of sovereignty:
Whereas Gibraltar is part of Her Majesty’s dominions and Her Majesty’s Government have given assurances to the people of Gibraltar that Gibraltar will remain part of Her Majesty’s dominions unless and until an Act of Parliament otherwise provides, and furthermore that Her Majesty’s Government will never enter into arrangements under which the people of Gibraltar would pass under the sovereignty of another state against their freely and democratically expressed wishes: And whereas the people of Gibraltar have in a referendum held on [date] freely approved and accepted the Constitution annexed to this Order which gives the people of Gibraltar that degree of self-government which is compatible with British Sovereignty of Gibraltar and with the fact that the UK remains fully responsible for Gibraltar’s external relations.(External Link

) In the 2002 referendum the people of Gibraltar totally rejected any concept of joint sovereignty with Spain.(External Link

)

Timeline

Sources

British sources

George Hills

was a BBC World Service broadcaster, Spanish Historian and Fellow of the Royal Historical Society.

General Sir William Jackson was Governor of Gibraltar between 1978 and 1982, a military Historian and former Chairman of the Friends of Gibraltar Heritage Society

Gibraltarian sources

Spanish sources

Chapter 2, "La lucha por Gibraltar" (The Struggle for Gibraltar) is available online

(PDF). Isidro Sepúlveda Muñoz is a Contemporary History Professor in the UNED ("Universidad Nacional de Educación a Distancia"), the biggest Spanish university.

Máximo Cajal is a Spanish diplomatist, ambassador in different countries and currently the special representant of the Spanish Prime Minister, José Luis Rodríguez Zapatero, in the Alliance of Civilizations. He was the only survivor of the assault of the Embassy of Spain in Guatemala by the forces of the Guatemalan dictatorship in 1980.

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