The Palestine High Commissioner today submitted to the municipality of Jerusalem a proposal to solve the complicated problem of the appointment of a mayor acceptable to Jews, Moslems and Christians.
The proposal suggests that the municipality adopt a system of triple rotation by appointing successively for one year a Moslem, a Jew and a Christian to the mayoralty post. This arrangement would constitute a further step in the development of local self-government in Palestine, the High Commissioner believes.
District Commissioner James Pollock, who delivered the proposal of the High Commissioner to the members of the Municipal Council, appealed to them to display good-will and tolerance and to accept the plan. The Palestine Government, he said, is ready to extend every assistance in carrying out this plan. The High Commissioner, he added, also decided to appoint an Arab member to the Municipal Council to fill the place of the late Mustapha Khalidi, former Jerusalem mayor, as well as two British members.
Daniel Auster, a Jewish member of the municipality, has been acting mayor since the death of Mayor Khalidi in 1944. The appointment of a new mayor was made impossible by the fact that the Arabs object to a Jew holding this post, while the Jews claim that they are entitled to it since they constitute the majority of the population in the city and especially since the last mayor was an Arab.
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