The Israeli side of the debate table housed the mayor of Hadera, Chaim Avitan; the mayor of Eilat, Meir Yitzhak-Halevi; the mayor of Ra'anana, Nahum Hofri; the Head of the Local Council of Yeruham, Michael Bitton, and the Head of the Local Council of Mevaseret Zion, Aryeh Shemesh. The Palestinian side included five mayors and local council heads from the West Bank.

 

Participants heard lectures and political analyses from:

 

-Mr. Kadoura Fares, Former Palestinian Minister

-Mr. Gadi Baltiansky, Director General of the Geneva Initiative

As well as from other prominent Palestinians.

Participants also held a series of discussions about the implications of the Shalit prisoner exchange deal, the Arab Spring and the peace process, as well as about the possibility for Israeli-Palestinian cooperation on the municipal level.

 

The seminar was sponsored by the Mayor of Turin, Mr. Piero Fassino.

 

Click here to read what one mayor said about future Israeli-Palestinian municipal cooperation, published in a local Ra'anana newspaper.