Some Jewish organizations and residents are calling on Boulder to reject a request to make the West Bank town of Nablus the city's eighth sister city.
The Anti-Defamation League, Rabbi Marc Soloway of Congregation Bonai Shalom and individual members of Boulder's Jewish community have submitted letters to the city asking that Boulder not add Nablus to its roster of sister cities. That list now includes Dushanbe, Tajikistan; Jalapa, Nicaragua; Kisumu, Kenya; Lhasa, Tibet; Mante, Mexico; Yamagata, Japan; and Yateras, Cuba.
In a letter to City Council members, Anti-Defamation League Regional Director Scott Levin said the group promoting the sister-city relationship has political motivations, and the city should not take sides in a "complex, ongoing international dispute."
"ADL supports direct negotiations between Israel and the Palestinian people to achieve a solution to the conflict that will result in two states for two people, living side by side in peace and security," Levin wrote. "Once that goal is reached, arrangements like the Boulder sister city program will no longer be needlessly drawn into the politics of the conflict between Israel and the Palestinians. Until that time, it is highly unlikely that entering into such a relationship will be able to meet the laudable goals of the Boulder Sister City Affiliation Policy."
Bill Cohen, who also wrote in opposition to the sister-city relationship, said Boulder's Jewish community has a diverse range of opinions about the conflict, and many Jews support a two-state solution and are actively involved in initiatives to meet and learn about Palestinians.
Cohen said people in Boulder have the right to advocate for their position but shouldn't ask the city to take one side in the conflict.
He also questioned whether Nablus would be an appropriate sister-city partner because of the human rights situation in the Palestinian Authority, including honor killings of women and lack of respect for press freedom.
"This is based on Palestinian reports, not just outsider reports," he said. "That should be disqualifying. Those activities are so far removed from the values of Boulder, which is one of the criteria for a sister-city community that it should not even be considered."
Cohen said the security situation in the West Bank also would make it more difficult to exchange visitors, as is common in sister-city relationships.
Boulder has sister-city relationships with other cities living under authoritarian regimes, such as Lhasa, and with other cities with dangerous security situations. Boulder Community Hospital has suspended medical missions to Mante, and a group from Mante visiting Boulder last year asked for no media coverage because of concerns about retaliation.
Cohen said he has not studied the political situations of Boulder's other sister cities in depth, but what he has learned about Nablus and the group promoting the sister-city relationship concerns him.
He pointed to pictures posted on the Facebook page of Guy Benintendi, outreach coordinator for the sister-city project, in which he holds a sign that says, "Zionism is Racism."
"The people behind the sister-city initiative have been very demonizing not just of Israelis but also of Jews who support Israel," Cohen said.
Benintendi said he anticipated opposition to the project because the four other American cities to establish formal ties to Palestinian cities encountered similar opposition.
He said the project is not political but is aimed at fostering personal relationships and raising awareness of the situation in the Palestinian territories.
Benintendi said the sign represents his personal views about Zionism, not those of the sister-city project. Zionism is support for the existence of a Jewish state in the historic land of Israel.
"We have people in our group who think as I do in that regard and other people in our group who do not know very much about the conflict and just want to be friends with people in Palestine," he said.
Benintendi said no one should talk about human rights in the territories without talking about the occupation.
"To talk about human rights in the West Bank without talking about the Israeli occupation is like talking about human rights in France during World War II without talking about the German occupation," he said.
Asked if he was comparing the Israeli government to the Nazi regime, Benintendi said he was not, he was only "comparing occupation of France with occupation of Palestine."
So far, Boulder has received seven letters in opposition to Nablus being a sister city and 35 in support, including some from Jewish residents of Boulder.
One of those came from Rabbi Zalman Schacter, who founded the Renewal movement in Judaism. He wrote that as a Holocaust survivor himself, he understands concerns about criticism of Israel, but "overcoming psychological blocks in recognizing the humanity in each and every one of our neighbors is exactly what is needed to foster a peaceful world."
The City Council is expected to hear a presentation on the sister-city request later this year, most likely in June.
Contact Camera Staff Writer Erica Meltzer at 303-473-1355 or meltzere@dailycamera.com. ___
(c)2013 the Daily Camera (Boulder, Colo.)
Visit the Daily Camera (Boulder, Colo.) at www.dailycamera.com
Distributed by MCT Information Services