According to The Olympian of the 83 people signed up to testify, 55 were in support of the proposal and 28 were opposed. The council also received approximately 400 emails in regard to the proposal.

The proposal was organized by the Olympia Rafah Sister City Project.

Video of the Tuesday April 17th, 2007 public hearing is available via the city website, linked here.

Advocates of the proposal were met with harsh, divisive, and derisive opposition from local Republicans and supporters of Israel.

Many who opposed the proposal said that Rafah is full of terrorists and terrorism. Some even went so far as to say that all people in Rafah are terrorists.

There are 43 official sister city relationships between cities in the USA and Israel. There are 3 such relationships between US cities and Palestinian cities/towns.

The council decided to vote against adopting an official sister city status.

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I think the decision was not based in the best intention or in the highest truth. I think it was discriminatory.

I believe that if the citizen residents of Olympia knew the whole and full truth about the situation in Israel and Palestine that a vast majority would support an official sister status between the two cities. It is a sad day in Olympia.

I took pictures of some of the people who provided testimony. I didn't photograph everyone, and not all of the photos turned out, so I apologize if you weren't included. Also, the photographs are of varying quality. I wanted to put as many up as I could. But if you would like your photograph removed from the collection, please let me know!

Also, I tried to get the names right, but if there are any errors, please let me know and also inform me of spelling inaccuracies if possible. Thank you!
[cross-posted at flickr.com]