Arab and Jewish mayors create joint forum

By JERUSALEM POST STAFF
A group of Arab and Jewish mayors in the Hof Carmel region have created a joint forum, with the financial aid of the UJA Federation of New York. The heads of the Arab Jesr a-Zarka local council, the Jewish local council Zichron, the Jewish Hof Hacarmel regional council, and the Arab mayor of Furedeis agreed to join in order to facilitate cooperation on issues that concern them all. A shared industrial zone, tourism development, mosquito control were topics discussed at a meeting on Wednesday. The meeting took place after months of preliminary contacts led by Naief Abu Sharkeia, director of the Jewish-Arab Mayors Forum Project. The project is organized under the auspices of Sikkuy: The Association for the Advancement of Civic Equality , a Jewish-Arab civil society organization that advocates for equality between the Arab and Jewish citizens. A similar forum has been up and running in the Wadi Ara - Eiron area for over a year and a half.