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| Long-serving Jerusalem mayor dies | Long-serving Jerusalem mayor dies |
| (40 minutes later) | |
| Israeli media have reported the death of Teddy Kollek, who served as the mayor of Jerusalem for nearly 30 years. | Israeli media have reported the death of Teddy Kollek, who served as the mayor of Jerusalem for nearly 30 years. |
| He was elected in 1965, two years before Israel captured the eastern half of the city, home to Jerusalem's Arab population and its main holy sites. | He was elected in 1965, two years before Israel captured the eastern half of the city, home to Jerusalem's Arab population and its main holy sites. |
| He oversaw a building programme which reinforced Israeli claims to the city. | |
| After six terms in office, the Labour politician lost his post in 1993, defeated by right-winger Ehud Olmert, who is now prime minister. | After six terms in office, the Labour politician lost his post in 1993, defeated by right-winger Ehud Olmert, who is now prime minister. |
| Long tenure | |
| Theodor Kollek was born in Austria-Hungary in 1911 and grew up in Vienna. | |
| He left for British Mandate Palestine in 1935, three years before Nazi Germany took control of Austria and 13 years before the establishment of the state of Israel. | |
| We proved that Jerusalem is a better city united than divided. People of differing faiths, cultures and aspirations must find peaceful ways to live other than by drawing a line in the sand Teddy Kollek | |
| He joined the socialist Kibbutz movement, but was also active in military and political spheres - helping to supply illegal weapons to the irregular Jewish forces which would become future Israeli army. | |
| In 1952 Kollek became chief aide to Israel's founding prime minister, David Ben Gurion, a position he held for 12 years. | |
| His election as mayor of Jerusalem in 1965 began a generation-long tenure that would define his career as a modest, straight-dealing pragmatist. | |
| The Israeli website Haaretz says Teddy Kollek's ambitious building and restoration projects in Jerusalem were unequalled since the 16th-century Turkish Sultan Suleiman the Magnificent. | |
| He is said to be the most influential Jewish builder of the city since Herod the Great in Biblical times. | |
| 'United city' | |
| In the 1967 Arab-Israeli war, Israeli forces occupied East Jerusalem, and added a large Palestinian Arab population to his constituency. | |
| Kollek advocated co-existence between Arabs and Jews. But there were no doubts about his commitment to underpin what Israelis saw as their "unification" of the city under their exclusive control. | |
| "We proved that Jerusalem is a better city united than divided," he once said. | |
| "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." | |
| Palestinians want the eastern part of the city as the capital of a future Palestinian state. | |
| Kollek was defeated in his bid for a seventh term by an campaign by Mr Olmert that targeted the health and age of his still-popular opponent. | |
| In 1937 he married Tamar Schwartz. They had two children, daughter Osnat and son Amos, who went on to become an award-winning film director and actor. |