Boulder Has New Sister City

nablus sister city

Boulder City Council voted 7-2 to adopt Nablus in the West Bank of Palestine as Boulder’s next sister city.  Boulder’s last sister city adoption was Kisumu, Kenya, inaugurated in 2009.

The US sister city initiative was founded by President Dwight D. Eisenhower in 1956 putting the program in its 60th year.  Boulder has seven other sister cities:  Dushanbe, Tajikistan; Jalapa, Nicaragua; Kisumu, Kenya; Llasa, Tibet; Mante, Mexico; Yamagata, Japan; and Yateras, Guantanamo in Cuba.

Council characterized tonight’s divided public comment session as more civilized than it was three years ago when tensions were high and comments were heated.  Council voted against Nablus as a sister city that year.  Tonight’s comments from the public included the sharing of personal experiences, both positive and negative.

Opposition to the proposal has long held that an alliance with Palestine would promote anti-Semitism and this was voiced by Boulder resident Mark Soloway, “I find it so painful that those of us in Jewish community have been demonized.”

BNSCP Executive Director Essrea Cherin in an invited speech to the council said, “Some in the Boulder community do not trust the Boulder Nablus Sister City Project to be non-political.”  She acknowledged that some people believe that some programs and guests will promote a pro-Palestinian narrative but assured council, “We are not about peace work in the Middle East nor narratives of the conflict but about the people who live in Nablus and our relation to them.”

Liz Fox was invited by council to voice an opposing view to the proposal and held that the BNSCP is promoting only one side of a complex situation given that the stated mission of the project is to bring Palestinian stories back to Boulder.  Fox said that the stories would be told out of context, “It is a single narrative told out of context and without nuance.”  She went on to say that only the Nablusi story would be told under the proposed projects of BNSCP “resulting in an overlay of propaganda which invariably point the finger of blame at Israel and the narrative.  I don’t think Boulder should be involved in Middle East politics.  Israeli narrative won’t have an equal platform.”

Councilmembers Sam Weaver and Aaron Brockett invited those who voiced support for giving Israeli narrative an equal platform to submit a proposal for an Israeli sister city.

nablus sister cityAndrew Shoemaker and Jan Burton were the only two to vote against the motion.  Shoemaker said that Boulder was already pretty thin with local issues and that the council should not “venture into Middle East politics.”  He added that the issue was outside of the scope of the council, and that council should not try to create peace everywhere, “With local issues of affordable housing and municipalization council should not chime into every national and international issue.”

Burton said that the resolution is divisive but resolved to the passage, given comments from other council members, “The citizens of Boulder think we are trying to solve obesity, global environmental issues, and now world peace.”  She placed doubts on the value of the sister city concept, “The average Boulder citizen can’t even name Boulder’s sister cities, except for maybe Dushanbe.”

But those in favor said they felt obligated to respond to the citizen initiative in the most positive way.  Sam Weaver who voted to approve said that there was no way to compromise on the dichotomy of choice and that some members of the community would leave the meeting in pain with either decision, “I didn’t necessarily come to this decision easily, but I think in this case it’s the right decision.”

Council member Mary Smith was the first to voice her approval saying that “The project has chosen in everything that I’ve read the grace and ability to listen.”

Council member Matt Applebaum acknowledged the differential treatment that the working committee who on developing the proposal in supporting Nablus has a “much higher burden on them than other sister city organizations.”    Council members Yates, Weaver, and Brockett explained that burden in asserting their intention to exert oversight over the practices in the programming and voices of the nonprofit committee that will run the Nablus project.

Carl Tintsman a board member with the Nablus Sister City Project told council in testimony that he has walked through the West Bank and has visited Nablus six times in the past five years.  He expressed regret at some of what he says is misrepresentation about the project but looks forward to work ahead.  He told The Nation Report,

“I’m feeling proud of what our committee has done.  I’m feeling proud of the statement of commitments which will demonstrate that we are a citizen to citizen group.  This is not about being anti-Israel or anti-Semitic or anything like that.  We have a big job ahead of us to live up to the commitments that we have made.  I think the biggest challenge to us is to continue to bring in the opposition and to succeed in doing that.  It won’t be easy.  They’re all my friends.”

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