Jerusalem’s popular mayor Teddy Kollek yesterday signified his intention to run for re-election so that he can finish the unification of the city with its eastern sector that began in the Six-Day War. He told the Israel Labor Party’s political committee that he would be a candidate on the list to be offered by the Labor Party-Mapam alignment. The alignment must decide who will head the list in the municipal elections, which will coincide with the Knesset election. Mr. Kollek said he would run although legislative reforms he deemed essential have not yet be enacted. He said that he would continue to fight for them.
He said he wanted professional technicians and administrators appointed instead of politicians to aid him in running the municipality. There must be greater freedom from Interior Ministry control and more attention to Jerusalem’s role as the nation’s capital, he said. Mr. Kollek also wants at least two East Jerusalem Arabs to be included on the Labor-Mapam alignment list of candidates as city council members unless the Arabs chose to bring forward their own candidates.
Municipal governments in Israel parallel the form of the national Government in that they consist of coalitions. The restrictions placed on Mr. Kollek by the special interests of the Jerusalem coalition he heads have been a constant source of frustration to him.
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