IT cant be easy being the mayor of Jerusalem. The shadow of his ancient, beautiful and troubled city seems to follow him everywhere he goes, even to faraway Denver.
Last week, when Mayor Nir Barkat prepared to address an audience at the University of Denver, he was greeted by opposing protesters facing each other across the street a few dozen strident anti-Israel activists who called Barkat a practitioner of ethnic cleansing, a war criminal and the thief of Jerusalem; and a few dozen pro-Israel activists, decrying terrorism and granting the war criminal title to Hamas.
Almost as lively as Jerusalem itself.
Not that it seemed to bother him a great deal. The next day, in the comfortable peace and quiet of his hotel suite, Barkat soft-spoken, articulate, dressed elegantly in a dark suit that seems more European than Israeli shrugged off the protests, the nasty name-calling and the controversy, implying that dissent and discord are part and parcel of the Jerusalem mayoralty, a job he clearly enjoys having.
Although hes only held the job a year, Barkat a Jerusalem native and lifelong resident carries himself in a most mayoral manner.
It became clear during his interview with the Intermountain Jewish News that Barkat is focused far less on international and national politics than on those things that should matter most to a mayor the gritty nuts and bolts of keeping a city running smoothly and positioning it for a positive future.
Jerusalem might be one of the worlds most ancient inhabited communities, the mayor suggests, it might be a place of great centrality to three of the worlds great religions, it might be the epicenter of world diplomacy and dispute but, in the end, ita city.
RUNNING that city, says Barkat, has been challenging, but I have to admit I enjoy my job a lot. Its much better than what I expected and very different from what people anticipate.
His first year has been a very busy one, he says, and surprisingly productive.
I proposed plans on how to take it to the next phase, how to develop economic growth, how to position Jerusalem, how to exploit the value of this city for the benefit of the world to enjoy, how to increase tourism and expand culture.
Last managed by an Orthodox mayor Uri Lupolianski Jerusalem is traditionally a very partisan city, with factions and sub-factions galore. To serve as its mayor has long been seen as a combative, if not thankless, position.
Barkat says things have been smoother for him.
I work very different from the way the mayors before me worked, he says. Im an independent. I dont belong to any party and Ive been fortunate to develop a very wide coalition of 30 out of 31 council members haredi, National Religious, traditional, secular, left-wingers and right-wingers together focusing on the common denominator of Jerusalem.
We dont have to agree on everything in Jerusalem. Naturally, every two Jews have three opinions and every 30 council members have more than 30 opinions. The reality is that indeed we were able sometimes to agree to disagree but then to commit, which is a good thing.
Reviewing his own report card, Barkat gives himself and his coalition pretty good grades.
He is proud to have started the process of bringing a sense of accountability to Jerusalem government, and confident that a new seven borough system of political divisions, each led by managers, will enhance accountability and make things run more efficiently.
He is still glowing from a wonderful summer in which Jerusalem came alive with popular musical and cultural events.
His enthusiasm for Jerusalems ongoing and quite frustrating, many Jerusalemites say light rail project is undimmed, even though he has plentiful criticisms of the projects first phase, which began before he took office.
The train will be ready at the end of next year, plus or minus a quarter, he says when asked about it.
When I came in, it was a big question mark: Should we even finish it? I think it was a very poor plan and poor execution. We totally changed the relationship with the contractor. I asked many questions and forced them to give the answers before I continued the project.
In sum: I would have done it very differently and we will do the next phase very differently, Barkat says. I definitely do believe in public transportation.
TRANSPORTATION, he adds, is a key element of one of his pillar objectives to dramatically increase tourism to Jerusalem. A main reason for his Denver visit, Barkat told the IJN, was to speak with Jewish and Christian leaders about tourism.
With all the assets that we have in Jerusalem the religious, the spiritual, the archaeological, the historical the fact is that we only get two million tourists a year. Paris and London and New York have 40 or 50 million or more tourists a year. Itamazing.
Barkat is working toward a goal of 15% annual economic growth in Jerusalem, which he admits is pushing the envelope, but it can be done.
Once you define the goal, the private sector and the public sector understand that in order to get to those numbers you have to think differently. As a business entrepreneur, my goal right now is to set a long-term target.
His tourism target 10 million tourists to Jerusalem each year will provide the basic fuel for his economic growth plan.
It will likely mean that Jerusalems current figure of some 12,000 hotel rooms will have to grow by 20,000 more rooms. Barkats administration is actively exploring those plans, as well as a new or expanded convention center and other facilities.
An ambitious agenda indeed, but one which Barkat feels is not only needed, but long overdue, in Jerusalem.
People are starting to understand, he says in his best boosters tone, that something good is happening in the city of Jerusalem. My role is to develop that.
AND, the mayor adds, acknowledging the other, inevitable, responsibility of his job, to mediate conflicts, because if you can think of a conflict, we have it big time.
Last summer, Jerusalem police dealt with several, sometimes violent, riots when haredi extremely religious residents protested the citys decision to keep a parking lot near the Old City open on Shabbat.
Barkat is a secular Jew, and reacts differently to religious concerns than his immediate predecessor might have done. While he has his own bottom lines on such issues, he insists that he has no desire to spark tensions with Jerusalems religious Jews.
In fact, he says, as a person who dives into problems, he has already successfully mediated a dispute between secular and religious Jews over an eruv a religious border for Shabbat observance in a secular neighborhood.
I dived into it, Barkat says, developed a committee and mediated it. We got to total acceptance and agreement between the haredi community and the secular.
He adds: Same with the parking lot. It was a big problem.
Barkat characterizes that problem as largely solved by now, but his solution on the issue illustrates that he has no interest in total acquiescence to the religious factions.
Insufficient parking near the Old City, he says, created traffic jams on Shabbat which, in turn, created a security hazard due to the concentrated number of vehicles.
On Shabbat there are people who drive, he says plainly. In fact, practically all parking lots in Jerusalem are open on Shabbat for the hotels, the hospitals.
While he did not give in on the parking lot dispute, Barkat says, he did consult with religious authorities to arrive at what he is convinced is a solution compatible with Jewish law.
He makes an effort, Barkat insists, to constantly be aware of the religious character that is an intrinsic part of Jerusalem.
A few months after his election, for example, the new mayor paid a visit to the citys revered rabbinic figure, Rabbi Yosef Shalom Eliashiv. It was a formal encounter, Barkat says, in which he introduced himself and was given a reminder by the sage.
He reminded me, of course, of the holiness of the city and for me to remember that. I assured him that I do.
FAR more worrisome to Barkat than internecine Jewish disputes are those between Jews and Muslims.
In recent weeks, Jerusalems Temple Mount has been wracked by violence triggered by Muslims who have been convinced that militant Jews have plans to take over the holy site which is officially part of Jerusalem but which in practical terms is run by Islamic authorities.
Barkats penchant for toughness is even more evident on this issue.
This is a time, unfortunately, where radicals and extremists, and sometimes the Palestinian Authority, are trying to create provocations, he says.
The goal of these provocations is to try to gain all kinds of political and other goals. Myself and the government and the police in Jerusalem will not let that happen.
The fact that somebody writes something on his website anybody can do that. Theres no substance to it.
Nor will the government or the municipality or the police allow something like this to happen. Were committed to maintain the status quo. There are political reasons to all these trials, which we deny and object to.
Reminded that Jerusalems tensions, coupled with the frozen state of the Israeli-Palestinian peace process, might result in yet another intifada, Barkat doesnt retreat an inch.
They say in the Middle East that its hard to predict the past, he says with a smile, and who am I to predict?
If they want to create an intifada, there will be an intifada. Theyll look for excuses. Thats not the point. I believe that in the proper leadership of Jerusalem, and in the country, we should fight extremists and people who try to create provocations.
And to be honest with you, not everything is up to us. We want to treat the Arabs in Jerusalem honestly and fairly, but we will not accept people blaming us for things that do not exist.
A MAN deeply invested in Jerusalems present, Barkat has very direct and emphatic advice when asked about the citys long-term future: Only one solution, nothing else: Keep it united.
Regardless of how Jerusalem emerges from any Israeli-Palestinian negotiations over its eventual status, Barkat insists that the city must remain one.
You cant split a heart, he says. Nowhere in the history of the world did a split city work. They either reunited or it just didnt work.
Especially when you talk about Jerusalem, the word Yerushalayim means shalem, which is whole, which goes very well with holy. You cant split it. Youve got to make it work better.
Hes not trying to say that Jerusalem is not a troubled place, nor that the solutions to its problems will come easily.
Jerusalem has its ups and downs, going back 3,000 years. I think that if you live and work in Jerusalem you think a little differently. You have better times and worse times, and thats fine. Focus on the things we can influence. Not everything is under our control and not everything we can predict, but one thing we know: What the right path should be.
The mayor is asked whether Jerusalem already is in real terms a divided city.
The answer is definitely no, he says firmly. Jerusalem has different sections, different quarters. So does New York and other cities. The haredi usually love to live in their own communities, the general public does, and so do the Arabs in East Jerusalem.
There are many neighborhoods and communities in Jerusalem, different from each other. The fact that the residents are sometimes of different race or religion is a quality, not a problem.
Finally, Barkat is asked whether he sometimes wishes he had an easier, less contentious, city to run such as Denver.
The mayor of Jerusalem, who met with Colorado Governor Bill Ritter and Denver Mayor John Hickenlooper during his visit here last week, doesnt take the bait.
Instead, he skillfully offers a token of international goodwill, illustrating perhaps why he is successful at what he undertakes.
Were two mountain cities that have a lot in common, he says of Jerusalem and Denver with a wide smile. Theres something about mountain people were calmer, more friendly.
IJN Executive Editor Hillel Goldberg participated in this interview.
