Mayor of Jerusalem

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.

Mayor of the City of Jerusalem
Seal of the City of Jerusalem
Incumbent Moshe Lion since 4 December 2018
Residence	1 Safra Square, Jerusalem
Term length	5 years
Formation	1867
Website	Office of the Mayor

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

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)

Ottoman Empire (1845–1920)

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)

	Mayor			Term start	Term end	Party
20			Raghib al-Nashashibi	1920	1935	National Defence Party
21			Husayn al-Khalidi	1935	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)

Mayors of West Jerusalem (Israel) 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 Mapai – Ahdut HaAvoda 5 Mordechai Ish-Shalom 1959 1965 Mapai Mapai – Ahdut HaAvoda 6 Teddy Kollek 1965 1967 Rafi Alignment

Mayors of East Jerusalem (Jordan) 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)

	Mayor of Jerusalem		Took office	Left office	Party	Coalition
24		Teddy Kollek	1967	1993	Rafi (1967-1968) Labor (from 1968)		Alignment 1967 – 1969
							Labor – Alignment – Mapam 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		Likud – Independents
28		Moshe Lion	2018	Incumbent	Independent		Independent

Titular Mayors of East Jerusalem (1967–present)

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

• Mayoral elections in Jerusalem
• History of Jerusalem
• List of people from Jerusalem
• Timeline of Jerusalem

References

1. Grenville, J.. A History of the World from the 20th to the 21st Century; Routledge, 2005. pg. 456. ISBN 0-415-28955-6
2. Weiner, J. R.. 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. 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. Johann Büssow,Hamidian Palestine: Politics and Society in the District of Jerusalem 1872–1908, Brill, 2011 p. 554.
7. 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. 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

• Mayors of Jerusalem
• Jerusalem at World Statesmen
• Mayors of Jerusalem at City of Jerusalem