Daniel Atar, who serves as the head of a local municipality in Israel, thinks that he’s developed a relationship with his Palestinian counterpart that could be a model for how cooperation can come to be for the two territories.
And Atar shared his experiences and insights on the pair’s cooperative effort in a presentation at the University of Massachusetts last Thursday.
“I think we are a model for how cooperation can take place,” said Atar – who spoke through a Hebraic translator –at the onset of presentation.
Atar, who serves as the head of the Gilboa Regional Council – which has a 60 percent Jewish and 40 percent Arab population – has worked with his colleagues in the neighboring West Bank town of Jenin on economic, tourism and educational initiatives. He has also worked with them on a number of humanitarian efforts.
And through their cooperative efforts, Atar and his colleagues in Jenin have developed three principles that seek to spell out their relationship: the realization of rights for Arabs in Gilboa, a shared leadership between the two geographic entities and the establishment of absolute equality between both areas that is used as a building block in the project.
The two counterparts have also developed understandings between each other that state that there should be no disputes about borders, that the economic gap between the two must be reduced, that their cooperation advances mutual interests and that international involvement and investment will continue to help to develop both areas.
Atar noted that individual projects and events that both he and his colleagues in Jenin have worked on have included joint cultural events and initiatives, such as a robotics competition between children of both areas.
However, Atar said that “the most significant and unique type of project” that the two work on deals with tourism.
He and his colleagues have helped to develop an initiative that has foreign tourists who come to the areas agree to stay on both sides of the border for an equal number of set days – to boost the economic and tourism industry in both municipalities.
“Tourism is the greatest way to show a place’s quality of life,” Atar said.
“Besides showing off an area, tourism is a very good economic engine,” added Atar, who noted during a portion of his presentation that the average Jenin household currently annually earns roughly $1,000, while the average household in Gilboa earns roughly $30,000.
In addition to Atar, Eid Salem, his deputy, also spoke about the history of the cooperative effort – which officially began in 2003, but has roots dating back to 1994 – and planned future initiatives. And Ilana Hayat, the general manager of Gilboa, spoke about a language center that both Gilboa and Jenin plan on developing to help those who inhabit the areas to better communicate with each other.
Atar, however, noted during the presentation that strengthening the relationship between the two is a lifelong initiative.
“We feel as though this is our life’s work – to develop a coexisting life,” he said.
Speakers from Jenin were initially slated to also speak at last week’s presentation, but couldn’t attend due to preparations for upcoming elections.
Last week’s event was sponsored by the UMass Student Alliance for Israel, as well as the UMass Hillel, Israel Consulate Boston, The David Project and Stand With Us.
William Perkins can be reached at [email protected].
