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| By Associated Press January 2, 2007 |
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Teddy Kollek, the longtime mayor of Jerusalem, died Tuesday at the age of 95, Israeli media reported.
Kollek needed all his celebrated energy, will and mastery of public relations in his nearly three decades as mayor. He oversaw a city famed for its disputes, where even a road repair can raise angry arguments between Israelis and Arabs, secular and religious Jews, and differing schools of archaeologists.
Kollek was known for his modesty. He liked to be called Teddy by all, and walked the streets without a bodyguard. Though deemed Jerusalem's greatest builder since King Herod, his home number was in the phone book for complaints about potholes or pleas for a new playground.
Kollek was elected in 1965 and was mayor when Israel captured east Jerusalem, home to the city's Arab population and Jewish, Christian and Muslim holy sites, in the 1967 Mideast war. He spent most of his career trying to balance the needs of the city's diverse interest groups. He also led a major building effort, adding new neighborhoods, parks and highways.
He preached fairness and coexistence to the city's Arabs but left no doubt that he wanted Jerusalem to remain undivided, under Israel's sovereignty, despite Palestinians' demand for the Arab part of the city as the capital of their would-be state.
"Jerusalem's people of differing faiths, cultures and aspirations must find peaceful ways to live together other than by drawing a line in the sand," Kollek once wrote of his philosophy.
After 28 years in office, Kollek was defeated in his seventh bid for mayor in 1993 by Ehud Olmert, who went on to become Israel's current prime minister. Olmert's campaign targeted his health and advanced age but steered clear of attacking the popular figure.
Born May 27, 1911, in Hungary and raised in Vienna, Kollek came to British-mandate Palestine in 1935. He helped buy up weapons illicitly for Israel's 1948 independence war. After the state was founded, he developed his political skills from 1952 to 1964 as chief aide to Israel's first prime minister, David Ben Gurion. |
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