Mayor Haj Mazouz el-Massri of Nablus called on the residents there today to participate in the West Bank municipal elections next Tuesday. At a special meeting of the Nablus Municipal Council, the West Bank mayor announced that he himself would vote, expressed support for the candidates and urged others who were qualified to stand for election. But he and former Mayor Hamdi Canaan said they would not change their minds about quitting the race themselves, confirming that they had received threatening letters from Palestinian terrorists.
Massri’s announcement came two days after 10 West Bank notables revoked their candidacy, a move followed by a sharp dictum from Defense Minister Moshe Dayan that the government would not permit illegal activities in the administered former Jordanian territory. Dayan emphasized that Israel might close the bridges between the West Bank and Jordan if King Hussein used them to send into the territory Jordanians threatening the candidates. Lt. Col Aharon Hirsch was nominated today to rule Nablus should the elections fall through.
The Archive of the Jewish Telegraphic Agency includes articles published from 1923 to 2008. Archive stories reflect the journalistic standards and practices of the time they were published.
