Mayor of Jerusalem from 1965-1993 remembered

By Dina Kraft

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TEL AVIV (JTA)—Teddy Kollek, the longtime Jerusalem mayor who died this month at the age of 95, is being remembered as the most prolific builder of the city since King Herod.
The man who in 28 years transformed the Israeli capital from a dusty backwater to an international city of parks, theaters and museums died Jan. 2 in the city that was his home and great love.
"He was the man who created the name Jerusalem as a real place, not as a town where things were blown up, but a place where people could live together, even as Arabs and Jews," said Yisrael Kimche, who worked under Kollek as the director of policy planning for the city.
"He established modern Jerusalem more than anyone else," said Kimche, who is currently a researcher at the Jerusalem Institute of Israel Studies.
Kollek, who came to the British Mandate Palestine in 1935, was considered one of the last of the generation of Israel's founding fathers. He was known for expertly navigating the divide between Jerusalem's diverse populations—Jewish and Arab, religious and secular.

"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 said.
Former New York City Mayor Ed Koch called Kollek, his longtime friend, "the mayor of all mayors."
In 1991, just after the first Gulf War started, Koch visited Jerusalem to help show that the city was safe and to boost the sagging tourist industry. Kollek, notorious for walking the streets of Jerusalem without security, escorted Koch to the Western Wall.
Koch recalled a flurry of stones being thrown at their entourage, one hitting him in the head and causing him to bleed profusely.
"I said to Teddy, 'This stone was meant for you,'" Koch recalled.
" 'He replied, 'Oh no, that stone was for you. Everybody loves me. And if you had a head of hair like mine, you wouldn't have felt it.' "
Theodor Kollek, named by his father after Theodor Herzl, was born in 1911 in a small town in Hungary before moving as a young child to Vienna.
During the Israeli War for Independence, Kollek helped buy weapons and ammunition for Israel's fledgling militia, the Haganah. He also met with Adolf Eichmann soon after World War II broke out and persuaded him to allow 3,000 Jewish youth passage to England.
Kollek became a confidante of David Ben-Gurion and worked as the chief aide to the country's first prime minister from 1952 to 1965.
In 1965, just two years prior to the Six-Day War, Ben-Gurion asked Kollek to run for mayor as part of his political party. Kollek balked initially, figuring he had no chance to win.
He was defeated 28 years later in 1993 by a Likud Party leader named Ehud Olmert.
Kollek was known for his relentless pace and his efforts at building up the city. Virtually every cultural institution in the city was a result of his influence and fundraising.
"There was only one Teddy Kollek, and modern-day Jerusalem owes a debt to him in terms of its structure and its role in world Jewry," said Seymour Reich, president of the Israel Policy Forum. "We need more Teddy Kolleks."