Political manoeuvring in anticipation of the elections to the Jerusalem municipality has commenced between the two great opposing Moslem families, the Nashashibis and the Hussainis, and their respective satellites, and may cause confusion at the polls, says Doar Rayom, Hebrew daily.
The Nashashibis are advocating a boycott at present in the hope that they will bluff the Palestine government into unconditionally prolonging the present autocratic form of civic administration, while the Russainis, much as they favor the idea of a boycott for Arab nationalistic reasons, are taking the opposite stand. Their compromise so far is a promise to assemble the Arab Executive and decide upon a boycott, if the Arab mayors and municipal councilors agree to tender their resignations before hand. This Hussaini suggestion is regarded as a move to oust the Nashashibi adherents.
Arab circles here ridicule the idea that a retired English civil servant will become the first mayor of Jerusalem under the new country-wide municipal ordinance system. They state that the government will continue the tradition of having a mayor appointed from among the Arabs. Moreover, it is added, there will be only one Englishman as the non-native councilor, instead of two as in other cities.
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