THE HISTORY AND MISSION OF SISTER CITIES INTERNATIONAL

Our mission: To promote peace through mutual respect, understanding, and cooperation — one individual, one community at a time. Sister Cities International was created at President Eisenhower’s 1956 White House conference on citizen diplomacy. Eisenhower envisioned an organization that could be the hub of peace and prosperity by creating bonds between people from different cities around the world. By forming these relationships, President Eisenhower reasoned that people of different cultures could celebrate and appreciate their differences and build partnerships that would lessen the chance of new conflicts. Sister Cities International creates relationships based on cultural, educational, information and trade exchanges, creating lifelong friendships that provide prosperity and peace through person-to-person “citizen diplomacy.” Since then, Presidents Kennedy, Johnson, Nixon, Ford, Carter, Reagan, Bush, Clinton, Bush, and now President Trump have served as the Honorary Chairman of Sister Cities International. Since its inception, Sister Cities International has played a key role in renewing and strengthening important global relationships. Early partnerships included a trading relationship between Seattle, Washington and Tokyo, Japan, repairing post-WWII tensions by creating cultural and educational exchanges and, subsequently, lasting friendships. A 1974 study found that many early sister city relationships formed out of the post WWII aid programs to Western Europe. The relationships that endured, however, were based on cultural or educational reasons that developed lasting friendships. Sister Cities International improved diplomatic relationships at watershed moments over the past 50 years, including partnerships with China in the 1970s. In the new millennium, Sister Cities International continues to expand its reach to new and emerging regions of the world. Today, it dedicates a special focus on areas with significant opportunities for cultural and educational exchanges, economic partnerships, and humanitarian assistance.

A LETTER FROM OUR SISTER CITY

​ Letter from Beit Shemesh Foundation Keren Shemesh - the Beit Shemesh Foundation would like to welcome you to our city. We hope you will enjoy your visit and that you will return home with a new understanding of the challenges we are facing on a local and national level. Beit Shemesh is mentioned more than 19 times in the Hebrew Bible and in this area Judah, Tamar, Joshua, Samson and Delilah, David and Goliath walked. The men of Beit Shemesh recovered the Ark of the Covenant after the Philistine captivity. Some say that Stephen, the first Christian martyr was buried near here and that Rabbi Gamliel one of the teachers of Paul, lived in the area. Beit Shemesh sits among verdant vineyards, olive orchards and fields of wheat. We are surrounded by nature reserves, parks and archaeological sites. Beit Shemesh is the youngest 4,000 year old city in Israel. Modern Beit Shemesh was founded in 1950, and today we have a population approaching one million, over 60% are under the age of 21. Beit Shemesh has a tradition of welcoming new immigrants. Over the years we have welcomed ingathering of the exiles from North Africa, Iraq, Iran, and Western and Eastern Europe, North and South America. Today we welcome immigrants from English speaking countries and Ethiopia. In Beit Shemesh scientists research cutting edge solar energy technology and live side by side with people who have just been introduced to the modern world. Our city is a microcosm of Israel with all the challenges and blessings. ​

ABOUT OUR SISTER CITY