San Diego, CA (special) -- In one of the terrorist bombings that rocked Israel in the year after the 1993 Oslo Accords, eight persons were murdered in Afula by perpetrators who were traced to nearby Jenin in the Palestinian Authority.

Now, following the election of Ehud Barak and with the encouragement of the Peres Center for Peace, which promises to approach charitable foundations for financial support, Afula and Jenin are trying to set aside suspicion and hatred and to develop cross-border relations based upon mutual economic advantage.

According to Itzhak Mirone, mayor of Afula, his counterpart from Jenin -- Mayor Abou Mwais -- recently toured Afula. Members of the delegation from Jenin "were specifically interested in our very big and new sewage treatment plant," Mirone said.  "We intend to visit Jenin next month and find issues on which we will be able to cooperate, such as an industrial zone on the border," said the Afula mayor. "They would be able to supply workers and we would be able to supply the money and the plans. We could cooperate in environmental issues such as garbage collecting and processing. Perhaps we could exchange youth delegations and have some kind of cultural relations."

Mayor Itzhak Mirone of Afula

Noting that elements of Afula are "very right wing," Mirone said he did not dare to go forward with the Jenin-Afula cooperative program until after the prime minister's election was won by Barak, lest it stir up a backlash against his party and its leader.

The election safely behind him, Mirone said he believed such programs would "help establish true peace," adding that he wanted to foster "something that is people-to-people, not just mayor-to-mayor."

Interviewed during a July 17-21 visit to San Diego sponsored by the U.S. Agency for International Development, Mirone said he also is trying to knit together his city of 40,000 which is now divided between a more affluent downtown area with 20,000 people and two poorer hillside communities of 10,000 persons each. The three areas are separated by a stretch of agricultural land that is administred by Israel's kibbutz movement. 

Acquiring that land and making it available for housing is a current priority, said Mirone, whose background as an attorney has been useful to him in the complex land negotiations.

Mirone said his uncle Meir Amitai died suddenly prior to last year's election for mayor, and friends urged Mirone to try to succeed him as a candidate. "It was a very difficult decision to make" because it meant giving up his law practice.

Elected in November of 1998, Mirone said he has been focusing on rebuilding some of the infrastructure of his city that had fallen into disrepair. Additionally, he said, nearly half the population of Afula are recent immigrants from Ethiopia and the former Soviet Union, who require many educational and social services. Such immigration "is a blessing and a burden," he said. 

The Ha Emek Medical Center in Afula has developed a specialty in reproductive medicine -- including sperm banking -- leading Mirone to believe that the city has a good future in attracting biomedical companies. He said he also believes his city has the potential to develop a top notch center for cancer patients.