Madison Rafah Journal

Dean Mosiman, Wisconsin State Journal, 7/05/04

Supporters of a controversial sister-city relationship with the Palestinian city of Rafah on the Gaza Strip are expected to delay a Madison City Council vote on the proposal scheduled tonight.

The vote will likely be delayed until July 20 to let council members consider new information, the measure’s prime sponsor, Ald. Jean MacCubbin, 11th District, said Monday.

The council, which meets at 6:30 p.m. at the City-County Building, will consider several major issues, including a change from manual to automated collection of garbage and recyclables.

The Rafah proposal has seven sponsors. Supporters continue to lobby council members but MacCubbin is uncertain if they will get the 11 votes needed for passage.

City Council President Brenda Konkel, 2nd District, a supporter, said, “I think it’s gaining support. I haven’t counted the votes, but I think they’re there.” (Read on …)

A Public Affair, WORT 89.9 FM
Monday, July 19, 2004
12 noon

Esty Dinur, a member of MRSCP’s Advisory Committee and Israeli army veteran, will be debating Shirin Ezekiel, an Israeli citizen who served her military service in Rafah and who is one of the main opponents of our project.

Hosted by Norm Stockwell, it will be a call-in format. Please listen and CALL IN (256-2001).

Michael Mylrea, Special to The Capital Times, July 3, 2004

Michael Mylrea is an assistant editor at Crossing Borders, a bi-monthy magazine dedicated to peace in the Middle East, and is a frequent contributor to The Jerusalem Post and several other publications. He was raised in Madison and graduated from UW-Madison with degrees in journalism and English.

RAFAH, Gaza Strip – Darkness falls over rows of decrepit gray buildings and crumpled houses that rest alongside dirt mounds and charred skeletons of cars in this embattled Palestinian city.

Right around the time residents of Madison settle in to watch the evening news, a Palestinian television broadcast warns people in Rafah not to leave home.

Outside, the sound of wailing ambulance sirens and bursts of gunfire cut through the humid air. The Israeli Defense Force (IDF) is conducting an incursion to root out terrorists in the city, located in the southern Gaza Strip.

Madisonians have little in common with the people or the city they hope to adopt in the controversial Madison-Rafah sister-city proposal, which will likely be taken up by the City Council Tuesday night. (Read on …)

10 am

Neil Heinen’s For the Record hosts Jennifer Loewenstein and Rev. Bruce Brunside debating the Madison-Rafah Sister City Project with Lester Pines, a director of the Madison Jewish Community Council, and Shirin Ezekial, an Israeli volunteer from the Jewish Agency. The program was taped on Friday, June 25.