The Friendly City, paired with the (Israeli) City of Angels?
Could happen, if a new initiative takes off to name Kiryat Malakhi, Israel, as the sister city to Petal.
The measure was addressed by Petal resident Blake Nobles during Tuesday’s meeting of the Petal Board of Aldermen, where Nobles told board members he has learned that although Kiryat Malakhi has other sister cities, it has none in the United States.
“So I thought that this would be a good area for us to at least look into first, to see how that goes,” he said. “It’s relatively close to Tel Aviv, and only a little less than an hour away from Jerusalem.
“We have a lot of churches, a lot of people, who go to Israel as is to check out the Holy Land, to check out these different areas. I thought that it would be a good match for Petal to look into having that relationship there with that area.”
Kiryat Malakhi, which is also known as Qiryat Malakhi or Kiryat Malachi, is Hebrew for “City of Angels.” The city is located in the Southern District of Israel, about 11 miles from Ashkelon.
The city, which was named in honor of the Jewish community of Los Angeles, was established in 1952 as a tent city to house the Jewish immigrants who arrived shortly after the creation of Israel following World War II. Although the city is only approximately 2 square miles in area, it boasts a population of 20,000.
A sister city is a formally-recognized relationship between two cities meant to develop cultural and economic exchanges between the municipalities.
“I feel like Petal can offer a solidarity for the region we’re looking at,” Nobles said. “We have an outstanding school system, and we have plenty of exchange students from different countries that come in year after year.
“We could offer a place in the United States with one of the best school systems in the nation, to come and learn here and provide and opportunity for students. What Petal could gain from this is reputation – the prestige on Petal’s behalf – and of course it would help us in our cultural and economic exchanges.”
Although the sister city relationship is officially recognized after the highest elected or appointed official from both communities sign off on an agreement to become sister cities, the measure takes a good deal of community involvement as well.
“All of this is very much done through the people of the cities – it doesn’t require a whole lot from the cities themselves,” Nobles said. “Therefore, it’s largely up to the people themselves to kind of see how they can participate and how these programs can grow, with some facilitation from the city.
“Truthfully, it would be my goal to make this not cost anything for the city, but to fundraise and see how the public might want to get involved.”
Mayor Hal Marx said if there are churches are groups interested in the initiative, he and the aldermen would be on board with the idea.
“Let’s give them our blessing, and publicize it and let it be part of that,” he said. “Obviously, we don’t have a whole lot we can put into anything concrete with it.
“To my knowledge, we’re the only city named Petal anywhere – I know in Mississippi we are – so it would be unique to have a sister city to tie that together. So I think I’d be okay with giving my blessing, and I think the board would be okay with that.”
Residents who are interested in participating or finding out more about the sister city initiative are encouraged to email Nobles at bcnobles@outlook.com.
