(JTA) — The Boulder City Council in Colorado agreed to hire a moderator in the dispute over its planned sister-city relationship with the Palestinian city of Nablus. At its meeting last week, the council agreed to spend the $5,000 allocated annually for the Sister Cities program and up to $5,000 more on the mediation. The council will also convene a citizen panel for a discussion between local proponents and opponents of the plan. The request to hire the mediator came from the Boulder-Nablus Sister City Project, which had asked the council to postpone a public hearing on the project after fears it would turn contentious, the Boulder Daily Camera reported. A 2013 sister-city plan with Nablus, which is located in the West Bank, failed a City Council vote after four hours of debate described as emotional. Opponents say the project has a political agenda, citing comments by proponents that described Palestinian suffering under the “Israeli occupation.”