Testifying today before Chief Justice Sir William Fitzgerald, who has been named a one-man commission to investigate the administrative machinery of Jerusalem, Arab leaders admitted that at present, and as far back as 1905, Jews constituted a majority of the city’s residents, but reiterated their demands for appointment of an Arab mayor.
Dr. Hussein Khalidi, who was mayor of this city in 1934, and who subsequently spent several years in exile for his participation in the anti-British and anti-Jewish riots of 1936, alleged that half the Jewish residents of Jerusalem are not Palestine citizens and are, therefore, not entitled to vote for the mayor. When Sir William cited the fact that foreign residents of Egypt are entitled to vote, Khalidi replied by pointing to the disenfranchised Arabs of North Africa and the Negroes of South Africa.
Former vice-mayor Anton Atallah said that he would not oppose Jews becoming a majority in Palestine if “they were willing to accept the country’s culture.” But since they have proclaimed their desire for a Jewish state, he added, it would be a dangerous precedent to allow a Jew to become mayor of Jerusalem. Other Arab leaders testified similarly.
The commission’s hearings are being boycotted by the Jews of Jerusalem, who have announced that they will not participate in the inquiry until representative government is restored in the city.
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