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June 1st-5th 2013 Mission in Israel and Palestinian Territories

Updated 2-21-2014

The Mayor of the City of Torino Piero Fassino led a territorial mission in Israel and in the Palestinian Territories. With the support of the diplomatic structure and in particular of the Italian Embassy in Tel Aviv and the Consul General of Italy in Jerusalem, the delegation had a rich schedule of political and technical meetings. The Chamber of Commerce and  the Piemonte Agency for Investments, Export and Tourism had several economic meetings, while University and Politecnico had different academic meetings.

In Israel the delegation of the Mayor met the President Shimon Peres and the Deputy Prime Minister Silvan Shalom, the Mayor of Haifa (with which a cooperation agreement exists since 2005) Yona Yahav and the Mayor of Tel Aviv Ron Huldai. During the visit the delegation took part in the National Celebration organized on June 2nd at the Italian Embassy where Torino could organise a promotional event through the projection of videos, the distribution of information material and wine. The promotional event was organised in collaboration with Turismo Torino and the Chamber of Commerce. The event, attended by more than three thousand people and in which took part the President Peres, was dedicated to the role of Rita Levi Montalcini, to whom was dedicated also a forum on June 3rd at the Peres Centre for Peace, attended by the Mayor Fassino. During the visit, the City also inaugurated in Haifa, at the Cinematheque and in collaboration with the Italian Cultural Istitute of Haifa, an exhibition dedicated to the Mole Antonelliana and the National Museum of Cinema of Torino, that cured also the projection of restored films by Elio Petri. The delegation also took part in the inauguration of the exhibition of Ugo Nespolo in Tel Aviv. Furthermore, the Mayor met representatives of the Contemporary Arts Museum of Tel Aviv. During the visit in Israel the delegation of the Mayor visited the Yad Vashem museum and the Mayor Fassino took part to the solemn ceremony for the victims of the Shoah. In Haifa the delegation took a visit to the square dedicated to Primo Levi last November. 

In Palestine the delegation met the Minister of Tourism Rula Ma’aya’h, the Mayor of Bethlehem Vera Baboun. Also the Minister of Foreign Affairs Riad Al-Maki and the Minister of Local Government Khaled Al-Qawasmi met, in their respective headquarters, the Italian delegation. Fassino underlined the importance of relaunching the negotiations between Israeli and Palestinian people in order to give peace and prosperity to all the Middle East, reaffirming the Italian support to the peace process. The Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas then received, at the presidential seat in Ramallah, the delegation of Mayor Fassino. The mission was also the occasion to sign a cooperation agreement between the two Cities with the Mayor of Hebron Daouod Al-Zaa’tari. The signature took place in the presence of the General Consul of Italy Davide La Cecilia, of the Governor of Hebron Kamel Hmeid, of the President of the Chamber of Commerce of Hebron Ghazi Herbawi, of the Deans of the Universities of the territory under the Government of Hebron and of several other personalities. The agreement allows the Municipality of Hebron to improve the services to the citizens in the field of energy, to improve the skills of its personnel thanks to the technical support of Italian experts and to an exchange of experiences. With such agreement are also set cooperation initiatives between the Chamber of Commerce of Torino and Hebron, among the Universities of the two cities and among Palestinian and Italian entrepreneurs.

Following up on the agreement, the two Mayors signed the project proposal "RENEP - RENewable Energy for Palestine", the lead partner being  the Municipality of Hebron, aiming at designing and realising photovoltaic rooftops on the public buildings of the Palestinian city. Italian partners of the project are the City of Torino, the Province of Torino, SITI (Superior Institute for Territorial systems for Innovation) and Ai Engineering Srl. The project is in the framework of the PMSP Programme (Palestinian Municipalities Support Program), financed by the Italian Ministry of Foreign Affairs.

During such an intensive mission the delegation also took part in the two National celebrations organised in Jerusalem and Ramallah, by the Consulate General in Jerusalem. The delegation also met Father Pierbattista Pizzaballa Custos of the Holy Land and the Latin Patriarch Mons. Fouad Twal.