Mayor of Jerusalem

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Mayor of the City of Jerusalem
Incumbent
Moshe Lion
since 4 December 2018
Residence1 Safra Square, Jerusalem
Term length5 years
Formation1867
WebsiteOffice of the Mayor

The Mayor of the City of Jerusalem is head of the executive branch of the political system in Jerusalem. The mayor's office administers all city services, public property, most public agencies, and enforces all city and state laws within Jerusalem. The term of office is five years.

The mayor's office is located in Safra Square; it has jurisdiction over all the city's neighborhoods. The mayor appoints many officials, including deputy mayors and city departments directors.

History[edit]

The Jerusalem City Council was established in 1863 during the rule of the Ottoman Empire. From 1948 to 1967 two municipalities operated in the city: an Israeli municipality provided services to the western neighborhoods of the city and a Jordanian municipality to its eastern parts.

By 1840, the Jewish community constituted the largest single religious group in the city.[1] From the 1880s onward, the Jews constituted the majority within the city.[2] However, it was only in 1937, under the British Mandate, that the first Jewish mayor was appointed. Since 1948 every mayor has been Jewish.

Prior to a 1975 national law change, mayors were chosen by the city council (which was elected in a closed list proportional representation system).[3]

Since 1975 law change, mayors have been directly elected in a two round system.[3] Under this system, if no candidate receives at least 40% of the vote in the first round, a runoff election is held between the top-two finishers.[3] The first municipal election to be held under the new law of direct elections for mayor was held in 1978.[4]

List of mayors (1845–present)[edit]

Ottoman Empire (1845–1920)[edit]

  1. 1845–1847 – Kıbrıslı Mehmed Emin Pasha, whose first wife, Melek Hanım wrote a book about life in Jerusalem[5]
  2. 1848–1863 – Ahmad Agha Duzdar Al-Asali (official title: Governor of Jerusalem)
  3. 1863–1867 – Abdelrahman al-Dajani[6][7]
  4. 1867 – Rafadulo Astiriyadis Effendi[6] (acting)
  5. 1867–1869 – Abdelrahman al-Dajani[6]
  6. 1869 – Mūsā Faydī al-'Alamī[6]
  7. 1869–1870 – Abd al-Salām Paşa al Ḥusaynī[6]
  8. 1870–1876 – Yousef Al-Khalidi[6]
  9. Triumvirate 1876–1877 – Abd al-Qādir al-Khalīlī Abū l-Hudā/'Umar 'Abd al-Salām Paşa al Ḥusaynī/Salīm Shākir al-Ḥusaynī.[6]
  10. 1877 – Shaḥāda Faydallāh al-'Alamī[6]
  11. 1877–1878 – Rafadulo Astiriyadis Effendi[6] (acting)
  12. 1878–1879 – Yousef Al-Khalidi[6]
  13. 1879–1881 – Mūsā Faydī al-'Alamī[6]
  14. 1882–1897 – Ḥusayn Salīm Paşa al Ḥusaynī[6]
  15. 1897–1899 – Yaseen al-Khalidi[8]
  16. 1899–1906 – Yousef Al-Khalidi[9]
  17. 1906–1909 – Faidi al-Alami[9]
  18. 1909–1917 – Hussein al-Husayni
  19. 1917–1918 – Aref al-Dajani[7]
  20. 1918–1920 – Musa Kazim al-Husayni

Mandatory Palestine (1920–1948)[edit]

Mayor Term start Term end Party
20 Raghib al-Nashashibi 1920 1934 National Defence Party
21 Husayn al-Khalidi 1934 1937 Reform Party
22 Daniel Auster 1937 1938 General Zionists
23 Mustafa al-Khalidi 1938 1944† National Defence Party
(22) Daniel Auster[10] 1944 1945 General Zionists
- City Council committee 1945 1948 Various

Divided Jerusalem (1948–1967)[edit]

Mayors of West Jerusalem (Israel)[edit]


Mayor of Jerusalem Took office Left office Party Coalition
1 Daniel Auster 1948 1950 General Zionists General Zionists
2 Zalman Shragai 1950 1952 Hapoel HaMizrachi United Religious Front
3 Yitzhak Kariv 1952 1955 Mizrachi United Religious Front
4 Gershon Agron 1955 1959 Mapai MapaiAhdut HaAvoda
5 Mordechai Ish-Shalom 1959 1965 Mapai MapaiAhdut HaAvoda
6 Teddy Kollek 1965 1967 Rafi Alignment

Mayors of East Jerusalem (Jordan)[edit]


Mayor of East Jerusalem Took office Left office Party
1 Anwar Khatib 1948 1950 Independent
2 Aref al-Aref 1950 1951 Independent
3 Hannah Atallah 1951 1952 Independent
4 Omar Wa'ari 1952 1955 Independent
- City Council committee 1955 1957 Independents
5 Ruhi al-Khatib 1957 1967 Independent

Reunited Jerusalem (1967–present)[edit]


Mayor of Jerusalem Took office Left office Party Coalition
24 Teddy Kollek 1967 1993 Rafi
(1967-1968)
Labor
(from 1968)
Alignment
1967 – 1969
LaborAlignmentMapam
1969 – 1993
25 Ehud Olmert 1993 2003 Likud Likud
26 Uri Lupolianski 2003 2008 Degel HaTorah United Torah Judaism
27 Nir Barkat 2008 2018 Independent LikudIndependents
28 Moshe Lion 2018 Incumbent Independent Independent

Titular Mayors of East Jerusalem (1967–present)[edit]

The office of Mayor of East Jerusalem was dissolved in 1967 after the Six-Day War and it has been titular since then.


Titular Mayor of East Jerusalem Took office Left office Party
- Ruhi al-Khatib 1967 1994 Independent
- Amin al-Majaj 1994 1998 Independent
- Zaki al-Ghul 1999 2019 Independent

See also[edit]

References[edit]

  1. ^ Grenville, John Ashley Soames. A History of the World from the 20th to the 21st Century; Routledge, 2005. pg. 456. ISBN 0-415-28955-6
  2. ^ Weiner, Justus Reid. Is Jerusalem Being "Judaized"?, Jewish Political Studies Review 15:1–2 (Spring 2003), citing Schmelz, U.O. "Modern Jerusalem's Demographic Evolution," Jewish Population Studies 20 (1987):9
  3. ^ a b c Nikolenyi, Csaba (1 March 2020). "The 2018 Municipal Elections in Jerusalem: A Tale of Fragmentation and Polarization". Contemporary Review of the Middle East. 7 (1): 6–24. doi:10.1177/2347798919889762. ISSN 2347-7989. S2CID 213423030. Retrieved 23 July 2021.
  4. ^ Blander, Dana. "Elections for the Local Authority – Who, What, When, Where and How?". en.idi.org.il. Retrieved 31 July 2021.
  5. ^ Hanim, Melek. "Thirty Years in the Harem". Archive.org. Retrieved 17 September 2023.
  6. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l Johann Büssow,Hamidian Palestine: Politics and Society in the District of Jerusalem 1872–1908, Brill, 2011 p. 554.
  7. ^ a b Lauren Gelfond Feldinger, 'The next Palestinian revolution, as seen through the eyes of a moderate scholar,' at Haaretz 14 June 2013
  8. ^ Lydia Mamreov-Mountford, The Kaiser in Jerusalem, New York Times, 27 November 1898
  9. ^ a b According to Bernard Wasserstein (1977): "MUSA AL-'ALAMI was born in Jerusalem in 1897. His father, Faidi. Effendi al-'Alami, was a large landowner, Mayor of Jerusalem (1906–9)" Published in: Middle Eastern Studies, Vol. 13, No. 2 (May 1977), pp. 171–194, Publisher:Taylor & Francis, Ltd. Stable URL: https://www.jstor.org/stable/4282641
  10. ^ Acting Mayor after Mustafa al-Khalidi's death.

External links[edit]