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)

	Mayor	Term start	Term end
1	Kıbrıslı Mehmed Emin Pasha[a]	1845	1847
2	Ahmad Agha Duzdar Al-Asali[b]	1848	1863
3	Abdelrahman al-Dajani[6][7]	1863	1867
4	Rafadulo Astiriyadis Effendi[6] (acting)	1867
5	Abdelrahman al-Dajani[6]	1867	1869
6	Mūsā Faydī al-'Alamī[6]	1869
7	Abd al-Salām Paşa al Ḥusaynī[6]	1869	1870
8	Yousef Al-Khalidi[6]	1870	1876
9	Abd al-Qādir al-Khalīlī Abū l-Hudā / 'Umar 'Abd al-Salām Paşa al Ḥusaynī / Salīm Shākir al-Ḥusaynī.[c][6]	1876	1877
10	Shaḥāda Faydallāh al-'Alamī[6]	1877
11	Rafadulo Astiriyadis Effendi[6] (acting)	1877	1878
12	Yousef Al-Khalidi[6]	1878	1879
13	Mūsā Faydī al-'Alamī[6]	1879	1881
14	Ḥusayn Salīm Paşa al Ḥusaynī[6]	1882	1897
15	Yaseen al-Khalidi[8]	1897	1899
16	Yousef Al-Khalidi[d]	1899	1906
17	Faidi al-Alami[d]	1906	1909
18	Hussein al-Husayni	1909	1917
19	Aref al-Dajani[7]	1917	1918
20	Musa Kazim al-Husayni	1918	1920

Mandatory Palestine (1920–1948)

	Mayor			Term start	Term end	Party
21			Raghib al-Nashashibi	1920	1935	National Defence Party
22			Husayn al-Khalidi	1935	1937	Reform Party
23			Daniel Auster	1937	1938	General Zionists
24			Mustafa al-Khalidi	1938	1944†	National Defence Party
(23)			Daniel Auster[e]	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 10 January 1951 17 August 1952 Hapoel HaMizrachi United Religious Front 3 Yitzhak Kariv 25 September 1952 April 1955 Mizrachi United Religious Front 4 Gershon Agron 7 September 1955 1 November 1959 Mapai Mapai – Ahdut HaAvoda 5 Mordechai Ish-Shalom 1 November 1959 29 November 1965 Mapai Mapai – Ahdut HaAvoda 6 Teddy Kollek 29 November 1965 29 June 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 12 March 1952 Independent 4 Omar Wa'ari 12 March 1952 1955 Independent - City Council committee 1955 1957 Independents 5 Ruhi al-Khatib 1957 29 June 1967 Independent

Reunited Jerusalem (1967–present)

	Mayor of Jerusalem		Took office	Left office	Party	Coalition
24		Teddy Kollek	29 June 1967	2 November 1993	Rafi (1967-1968) Labor (from 1968)		Alignment 1967 – 1969
							Labor – Alignment – Mapam 1969 – 1993
25		Ehud Olmert	2 November 1993	16 February 2003	Likud		Likud
26		Uri Lupolianski	16 February 2003	11 November 2008	Degel HaTorah		United Torah Judaism
27		Nir Barkat	11 November 2008	4 December 2018	Independent		Likud – Independents
28		Moshe Lion	4 December 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	29 June 1967	5 July 1994†	Independent
-		Amin al-Majaj	1994	2 January 1999†	Independent
-		Zaki al-Ghul	1999	28 April 2019†	Independent

See also

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

Notes

1. His first wife, Melek Hanım wrote a book about life in Jerusalem^[5]
2. Official title: Governor of Jerusalem
3. Triumvirate
4. 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)"^[9]
5. Acting Mayor after Mustafa al-Khalidi's death.