British Mandate: A Survey of Palestine: Volume II - Page 936

CHAPTER XXII.

mayoralty to be filled in turn for successive yearly periods by Moslem, Jewish and Christian Councillors (the Christian mayor not necessarily being a Palestinian); such arrangement to continue in force until a further stage in the development of local self-government is reached".

138. These proposals were communicated. to the Jerusalem Municipal Council on the 21st March. Both Arabs and Jews asked time for consideration. The Council accordingly adjourned. '!'he District Commissioner's statement aroused considerable criticism and opposition on both sides. The Arabs rejected the proposals from the outset and called a one-day strike in protest. The Arab press criticised them on the ground that they were a breach of the White Paper; that Jerusalem was the capital of Palestine, which was indisputably Arab; that the mayoralty was a symbol and not a matter of statistics. A sub-heading in the 'Palestine Post' was entitled 'Unjust to Jews' on the grounds that the Jews represented two-thirds of the population of Jerusalem but were reduced to the position of the minority of one-third in regard to the holding of the mayor's office. At a subsequent meeting between the District Commissioner, Jerusalem, and the Jewish Municipal Councillors, headed by Mr. Auster, on the 23rd March, the Jews proposed certain modifications of the High Commissioner's proposals. Mr. Auster urged that the period of the mayor's term of office should be extended and that the first mayor should be Jewish. Another proposal put forward by one of the Jewish Councillors was that the Municipal Council should hold office for six years with a Jewish mayor for half that period and a Moslem and Christian sharing the second half. Following this interview, Mr. Auster, on behalf of the Jewish Councillors, wrote to inform the District Commissioner that :-

"The Jewish Councillors ..... consider that the recognition of minimum Jewish rights and the interests of good administration of the Municipality require the following modifications of the proposal * :

(a) That the first mayor according to this scheme of rotation should be a Jewish mayor;

(b) That the Christian mayor should be a British Councillor, as any other arrangement would be tantamount to utilising the religious character of Jerusalem to give the Arab minority twice as much representation as the Jewish majority;

(c) That the period of tenure of the mayoralty office should

be two years rather than one year".

In a conversation with the Acting Chief Secretary on the 26th March, Dr. Bernard Joseph stated that the Jewish community would accept the proposals with three reservations, namely :-
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* The proposal of 21st March.

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