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THE DETROIT JEWISH NEWS
Teddy Kollek
A Portrait of the Mayor of Jerusalem
By AKIBA ELDAR
Kollek has been known to
use unparliamentary lan-
guage to critics but he in-
sists on having his tele-
phone number listed and
replies personally to corn-
plaintsabout broken sewers
or traffic chaos. You can
find him in Jerusalem's al-
leys at 5 a.m., talking into
his little tape machine
about defects which need
remedying. Teddy will be
back the next morning to
make sure the work has
been carried out as he in-
structed. His working day is
no less onerous today than it
was when he was in his 50s.
In 1966, he established
the Jerusalem Foundation
with the purpose of
beautifying the city, recon-
structing historic buildings
and areas and building
youth and community cen-
ters. He raises much of the
funds in the U.S.
Jerusalem is enriched as
winter approaches by mas-
ses of tulips contributed by
the Amsterdam municipal-
ity, gladdening the eyes not
only of Jerusalemites but
also of thousands of tourists
and pilgrims visiting the
city and enjoying its count-
less parks. The Foundation
has transformed Jerusalem
in every sence — socially,
culturally, architecturally
and aesthetically.
Kollek has brought to-
gether some of the
world's finest architects
to preserve Jerusalem's
special character. As he
looks for compromise on
the Holy Mount, holy to
Jews and Arabs alike, so
he looks for balance be-
tween old and new in
shaping the city's land-
scape. Jerusalem has ex-
panded enormously
since 1967, yet its basic
harmony has not been
undermined by the new
problems.
In his desire to develop
the capital, the mayor op-
posed the building of nearby
Maale Adumim, fearing
that such projects will be at
the expense of Jerusalem.
To ensure the city's quality
of life, Teddy founded an in-
ternational committee to
advise on its development,
consisting of academics, ar-
World Zionist Press Service
JERUSALEM — Last Oc-
tober, at the age of 72, after
17 years of running his
wonderful but incom-
parably difficult city, Teddy
Kollek was re-elected
mayor of Jerusalem by a
larger majority than ever.
Pessimists had prophesized
that after 1967 Jerusalem
would share the fate of Bel-
fast for they both appear to
be polarized cities. Israel's
capital has Arabs (120,000)
and Jews (over 300,000);
secular and traditional
Jews on the one hand, the
zealots of Meah Shearim's
Neturei Karta on the other;
well-established professors
from the prestigious He-
brew University and slum
dwellers who find it hard to
eke out a livelihood.
Kollek's election list was
called "One Jerusalem" and
that is how the city looks
and lives, with all the prob-
lems involved.
Kollek has been re-
elected four times, with
his majority in the munic-
ipality steadily growing.
This time, Teddy won an
overall majority of 17 out
of the 31 seats on the
municipality. His list,
though built around the
Labor Alignment, had a
much wider base in terms
of the political, economic
and religious circles
backing it.
However, people voted
above all for Teddy himself,
often regardless of national
political affiliations, for in
national elections Labor is
in the minority in
Jerusalem.
Many Arabs from East
Jerusalem used their right
to vote (having refused Is-
raeli citizenship, they don't
vote in Knesset elections).
The great majority voted for
Teddy in the knowledge
that the mayor does all he
can to improve their lot.
Teddy is wont to say that he
doesn't expect the Arabs to
love either him, or Jewish
rule over the city. It is
peaceful co-existence and
good neighborly relations
which are important.
He knows that the eyes of
the whole world — Chris-
tians, Muslims and Jews —
are turned towards
Jerusalem. Most of the UN
members, including the
U.S., do not recognize Is-
raeli sovereignty over the
two parts of the city. Inci-
dents between Jews and
Arabs in the Holy City are
an excellent excuse for the
opponents of unification.
Born in Vienna, Teddy
is an international per-
sonality. Yet his secre-
tary and the cleaning
woman in his office call
him Teddy. He brought
Eugene Ionesco and
Simone de Beauvoire as
his guests to Jerusalem.
Isaac Stern is a close
friend of Teddy's and of
Jerusalem. Frank
Sinatra came with a
giant-size band because
of a personal promise he
had made to Teddy.
Richard Burton came to
dine with Liz and in re-
turn the two appeared in
Friday, January 20, 1984 21
TEDDY KOLLEK
chitects, religious and polit-
ical leaders. Advising the
city planners, the top-level
committee has generally
approved of the direction
being taken.
Teddy Kollek has been in
charge of Jerusalem for 17
years and he says he'll be
around to celebrate the year
2,000 in the capital. Come
what may, it is hard to im-
agine Jerusalem without
0
him.
In his recent election
campaign, he used a slogan,
"Teddy is Jerusalem." Most
Jerusalemites seem to go
along with that.
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an evening of readings at
the Jerusalem Theater
(built at Teddy's initia-
tive). The mayor says he
loves people and likes to
deal with them.
After joining the "Blue-
White" Zionist Youth
movement in Vienna and
working in various Euro-
pean countries, Teddy came
on aliya at the age of 24 and
was a founding member of
Kibutz Ein Gev on Lake
Kinneret. Visiting Europe
on a Zionist mission in the
late 1930s, he met Adolph
Eichmann and persuaded
him to let 3,000 Jewish
youngsters go to England.
Serving in intelligence
during World War II, on the
eve of Israel's statehood he
headed the Hagana's arms
smuggling operation from
Europe, subsequently lead-
ing the first military mis-
sion from Israel to the U.S.
Teddy was among the in-
itiators of the Israel Bond
campaign and of U.S. eco-
nomic aid to Israel.
In 1952, Prime Minister
Ben-Gurion appointed Kol-
lek director of the PM's
office. Yet Teddy is not a
politician. He rejected offers
to join Labor Alignment
Cabinets and even to run for
prime minister (1981). He
has no time for long-winded
politicians and rebukes
members of his municipal-
ity who speak for too long or
off the subject.
From the year 1964, he
was able to realize one of
his dearest dreams, the
foundation of the Israel
Museum, in which he still
plays an active role.
(Some say he keeps his
office there for the time
In an ancient Jewish
when he will no longer be legend, the Sabbath is de-
able to run the city of scribed as a taste of the
Jerusalem).
world-to-come.
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