Mitzna 18 Magazine

8/14/2019 Mitzna 18 Magazine

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A n o t h e r I s r A e l r e v I e w

By Samuel Sokol

Photography by Avi Levine

Rough Start

Te rst thing one notices upon meeting Amram Mitzna is that he does not speaklike a politician. Rather, he speaks with thecasual tones o a man more used to issuingcommands than negotiating behind closeddoors.Mitzna was elected as head o the Israeli Laborparty in 2002 and was considered to be themost dovish Prime Ministerial contender todate. Prior to politics, hed enjoyed a lengthyand decorated military career, in which headvanced to the rank o Major General andcommanded the planning branch o theIsraeli Deense Forces.Upon exiting the army he quickly dived intopolitics and was elected by a landslide marginas the mayor o Haia in 1993 as Laborscandidate. Haia has always been a Laborstronghold, and the move was identied as aleaping board onto the National stage.Running or Prime Minister against anotherormer general, the tremendously popularincumbent Ariel Sharon o the center-rightLikud party, Mitzna was ghting a lostbattle. Consequently, he brought Laborto one o its lowest points, garnering onlynineteen out o one hundred and twentyseats in the Knesset. For a party that or

decades dominated Israeli politics, thisshowing was unacceptable. Te daggers

were immediately drawn and it was onlya question o time till he resigned as topdog o the Labor party. He resigned in2003 and was succeeded by Shimon Peres.Mitzna stuck around till 2005, continuinglegislative work in the Knesset, but the stingo deeat was ever-present.In the eyes o the public, Mitzna was done.He was merely lling a seat and showingup or votes. Mitzna, however, was notcontent to sit on a shel, collecting dust.

Sick o intrigue-laden politics he decided toleave national politics and set his sites on a

dierent goal.

Yeruham

Te town o Yeruham was one o Israelsearliest development towns, created to settlethe rontier during the rst years o thestate. Mostly populated by North Arican

Jews in the early years, it has struggled tosurvive rom day one.By 2005, this small, isolated town o lessthan ten thousand people in the southernNegev desert was bankrupt, its citizens

were moving away and businesses wereclosing down. Yeruham led the region inunemployment with a rate o 14.3 percent.Called a backwater by the infuential dailynewspaper Haaretz, Yeruham seemed tohave lost all hope.

With Yeruham mired in deep debt, BaruchElmakaias, the incumbent mayor, wasdismissed in an unprecedented manner byIsraels central government and replacedor a period o ve years by an emergencycommittee led by Mitzna.Mitzna describes the situation, People thatcould, let town and the town, that romthe beginning was a very remote one in the

periphery o the country, geographically andsocially, became the most unprivileged placein Israel.Inside his barebones oce, Mitzna oersme a cup o mint tea and speaks aboutthe change he has initiated. Te reasonany progress has been made in Yeruham[since my arrival] is because Im workinglike a bureaucrat and not a politician. Bybypassing the electoral game, and not beingbeholden to any pressure groups or publicpolls, I am ree to do what I eel is necessary,

without having to worry about re-election.

RedemptionHow Amram Mitzna went from local to national

politics and back again

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Turnaround

In act, Mitzna, or all his history as acommander, is a modern and progressivepolitician, and or all his ailings in the

national theatre, he has bloomed in a localsetting. Te ormer mayor o Haia hasrediscovered his roots.It is easy to see that Mitzna is revitalized bythe struggle to bring Yeruham back romthe brink. As he describes his sel-appointedmission [I] decided rom the beginningthat our challenge is not just to bring backnormality. It was to put Yeruham on [a]runway which will bring it to prosperity. Aundamental change o image is required toallow it to continue even ater the committee

will leave.Part o what makes his administration so

successul, he argues, is his openness and willingness to bring the community intogovernance. He has established severalcitizen committees on issues acing the townand has implemented an open door policy inhis municipality oces, as well as organizinga yearly community wide meeting where thecitizens can debate the issues.Municipal unding comes rom acombination o taxes and grants rom Israelscentral government. Mitzna proudly relateshow he has brought tax collection levelsup to ninety percent, which has helpedsupplement the emergency unds allocatedby the Israeli government.He claims, however, that the emergencyunds allocated when he was appointedto his position are insucient and he hasbegun haunting the various ministries in

Jerusalem, using his name and contactsto bring in additional revenue to und his

inrastructure and revitalization projects.We got a lot o help rom the government

which allowed us to pay our debts andto reach scal balance, Mitzna states,Unortunately now, the situation is not

as it was the last our years because thegovernment is cutting the budget across theboard in all the municipalities.Te ormer commander has also been tryingto supplement decreasing governmenthandouts by capitalizing on his namerecognition to undraise abroad. Te cityo Yeruham maintains ties with the JewishFederation o Miami through the Jewish

Agency, and Mitzna has made severalsuccessul undraising trips.

Results:

Te community center, closed or lack ounds, has been reopened, a technologicalpark was recently completed and put on themarket and the chie construction engineero both the World rade Center and Disney

World, Hy Brown, has decided to open themain manuacturing acility or his start-upcompany Real-Housing in Yeruham.Mitzna has also overseen the opening otwo new schools or the towns Orthodoxcommunity and has shored up the crumblinginrastructure.It remains to be seen what lasting impactMitznas work will have. While he hasstemmed the tide o emigration, and thetown has begun seeing businesses andresidents return, his success has been partlybuilt upon personal connections and hisown name recognition.It is hoped that the changes, in encouraging

Sick of intrigue-ladenpolitics he decided toleave national politicsand set his sites on adifferent goal.

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A n o t h e r I s r A e l r e v I e w

business growth and especially in the sel-image o the Yeruhamites, will be enoughto make the towns improvements sel-sustaining.

One thing is or certain, Mitzna, whileshunning popularity, has an approval ratingmost politicians would die or.Te local residents are very happy withMitzna and are very vocal in their supporto their appointee mayor. When asked abouttheir thoughts on next Novembers election,

when Amram Mitzna will step aside toallow the locals to take charge o their cityonce again, residents said that a Yeruham

without Mitzna would be impossible. Intheir consideration, he must remain at thehelm. When I asked a local shopkeeper andhis customers i they minded that he was anoutsider, the only response was to point tothe community center across the way and

rhetorically ask, He reopened the centerand he brought back business, didnt he?Te mayor makes no bones about beingan outsider. He maintains a small fat in

Yeruham, and returns to Haia on Tursdaysto spend the weekend with his amily.

However, Mitzna uses this position to hisadvantage and is ond o pointing out thatby being an outsider, he can be concerned

with the wellbeing o the community asa whole and that this is the secret to hissuccess

Business

Yeruham weathered the recent economicdownturn airly well, according to Mitzna.Tis was due to the conservative natureo the businesses operating in the town.

American rms such as Agis-Perrigo, theproducers o Careline cosmetics, operatein Yeruham, and with the benets that theIsraeli government oers to rms willingto operate in the periphery, Mitzna hopesthat the new technological park he built willsoon ll up with high-tech ventures..

Redemption goes both ways

For a man who claims that he elt useless inthe Knesset, Yeruham was a godsend. Teormer soldier eels that public service is anintegral part o his worldview and that i he

cannot aect things on a macro-level, hewould like to see himsel helping out on alocal level.

Even Mitznas harshest critics cannot butacknowledge that Mitzna did not decide toleave his amily behind in Haia and spendhis golden years in a small town in theNegev or personal glory.

In nding his cause, Mitzna has not onlyhelped to redeem the town o Yeruham, butalso his own image. ///

Amram Mitzna overlooking the desert1.

Channel 1 crew interviewing the mayor2.

Mitzna in his chamber3.

Signage on the way from Yeruham4.

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Mitzna 18 Magazine