Mustafa al-Khalidi

Mustafa al-Khalidi was a Palestinian politician and member of the prominent Khalidi family. Between 1938 and 1944, he became the last Palestinian-Arab mayor of Jerusalem (including West Jerusalem) who held this position coupled with real authority.

Career Khalidi was well educated and before his involvement in politics had a career as a judge. In response to rumours of Haifa mayor Hasan Bey Shukri's perceived collaboration with Zionism, Khalidi said to Daniel Auster: "We must recognise the facts; the Zionists have migrated to this country, become citizens, have become Palestinians, and they cannot be thrown into the sea. Likewise, some of them have bought land and received deeds in exchange for money and we must recognise them. There is no point in closing our eyes about such things." Nonetheless, he was opposed to mass Jewish immigration, but was amenable to accepting limited numbers.