Madison's Rafah Politics

The Capital Times has another informative article about the Madison-Rafah sister city project. One development is that a group of local Jews is rallying behind the proposal. More interesting is that my idea to have an Israeli sister city as well as Rafah has been floated...and rejected by the Madison-Rafah group. Alderman Ken Golden suggested that Madison, Rafah, and the hypothetical Israeli city could engage in three-way cultural dialogue. A member of the Madison-Rafah project said they would talk to people interested in getting an Israeli sister city, but that, "There's no lack of venue for the voice of the current Israeli administration."

At this point, I feel I should mention that my opinions here are strictly my own, and do not represent those of the UW-Madison Middle East Studies Program, which employs me and has had occasional contact with the Madison-Rafah Sister City Project over events. (Our name was on a list of co-sponsors for some speakers they brought it, and they post stuff to our bulletin board, as do the University of Haifa study abroad program and the Neve Shalom/Wahat Al-Salam people.) However, as a private citizen, I do question the fact this group is insisting that Rafah should not be taken as representative of certain groups with the Palestinian community, but holding any hypothetical Israeli city as representing Ariel Sharon's government.