Middle East Mayors

Women Mayors reporting from the Middle East

> Israeli settlers attack Christian West Bankl town

> The US impose sanctions on UN official

> Israeli mayor pleads for military restraint in Gaza

The 5th-century Christian church in the town of Taybeh, on the West Bank, was vandalised by Israeli settlers

TAYBEH / WEST BANK

Extremist Israeli settlers continue to attack the last Christian town on the West Bank

July 2025: This week (7/12 July), a 5th-century church ruin and an ancient Christian cemetery were twice vandalised by Israeli settlers in Taybeh, the last Christian town in the West Bank. According to eyewitnesses, settlers set fire to St George’s Church. Only the rapid intervention of residents and firefighting teams prevented a disaster that could have engulfed the church. However, this incident was not isolated but part of daily attacks that have become familiar to the residents of Taybeh

Local priests expressed strong condemnation of these attacks that threaten the town's security and stability, targeting the dignity of its residents and sacred lands.

In a statement, the priests of the churches of Taybeh - Latins, Greek Catholics, and Greek Orthodox - made a clear appeal to the world, expressing deep concern about the increasing and documented attacks by illegal Israeli settlers on the town's land, holy sites, and properties - amidst official silence that exacerbates the sense of danger and lack of protection.

The priests warned that silence in the face of these attacks is no longer possible. Taybeh, known as 'Aphram' in the Bible and where Jesus Christ sought refuge before his Passion and crucifixion, is today the last Palestinian town with an absolute Christian majority in the West Bank. Its Christian presence, rooted for two thousand years and carefully preserved through generations, is today facing the danger of being emptied due to multi-front targeting: land, holy sites, and people.

The town sits just to the west of a part of the West Bank that has seen severe settler harassment of local Palestinian populations in recent years. Whole communities of Bedouin sheepherders have been abandoned under what their former residents say are increasingly brazen threats from Israeli extremists expanding illegal outposts in the area.

Sources: Independent Catholic News; Rev Mitri Raheb; Times of Israel; Jerusalem Post; The Tablet; Der Spiegel

Further reading: Israel’s attacks on cities in Gaza cause destruction and death on an unimaginable scale

GAZA / UN / USA

Trump administration sanctions UN rapporteur tasked with exposing war abuses in Gaza

July 2025: It might be a coincidence, but two days after Benjamin Netanyahu, the Prime Minister of Israel, informed US President Trump that he would nominate him for the Nobel Peace Prize, the US State Department (foreign office) announced that it would issue sanctions against Francesca Albanese, the UN official investigating abuses in Gaza. In February, Trump signed an executive order imposing sanctions on the International Court of Justice (ICC). The order targeting the ICC also coincided with a visit to Washington by the Israeli Prime Minister.

Francesca Albanese, the UN’s special rapporteur for the occupied Palestinian territories, has been very critical of Israel’s actions in Gaza. Albanese, an Italian human rights lawyer, has repeatedly described the Israeli warfare as genocide. She has also supported the ICC’s indictment of Israeli officials, including the prime minister, Benjamin Netanyahu, for war crimes.

Secretary of State Marco Rubio, the US foreign minister, announced the sanctions as Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu met with President Trump and senior Republicans during his visit to Washington. In a statement, Rubio said Albanese had "spewed unabashed antisemitism, expressed support for terrorism, and open contempt for the United States, Israel, and the West". He also accused her of "sanctioning lawfare" by engaging with the International Criminal Court (ICC) to prosecute individuals and organisations linked to Israel's occupation of Gaza and the West Bank.

Trump’s foreign minister continued to say that the UN rapporteur has sent threatening letters to American companies, making unfounded accusations.

Recently, Francesca Albanese released a report critical of companies connected to Israel's military campaign in Gaza and its West Bank settlements. "Far too many corporate entities have profited from Israel's economy of illegal occupation, apartheid and now, genocide," the report says. "The complicity exposed by this report is just the tip of the iceberg; ending it will not happen without holding the private sector accountable, including its executives."

A spokesperson for the State Department said under the sanction, any property owned by Albanese in the US would be frozen. She and members of her immediate family would not be allowed to enter the US.

Albanese responded by saying that it seemed that I had poked the bear in the eye. “I understand that the current US administration has zero respect for international law, for human life, for their very words. They were negotiating with Iran, and at the same time, they helped Israel bomb Iran.”

Francesca Albanese is an Italian legal scholar and expert on human rights. In May 2022, she was appointed United Nations (UN) Special Rapporteur on the occupied Palestinian territories for a three-year term, which, this year, was renewed for another three years. She is the first woman to hold the position.

Further reading: Israel’s attacks on cities in Gaza cause destruction and death on an unimaginable scale

ISRAEL / GAZA

Israeli mayor faces death threats after warning against atrocities in Gaza

May 2025: An Israeli mayor who, during a Holocaust Day Remembrance speech, warned that Israel must not commit atrocities in Gaza, now faces death threats. Daily protests have been held outside the mayor's residence, as well as near his daughter's school and his wife's business. After the arrest of five people, who, according to Israeli media reports, discussed ways to harm the mayor, the police have raised the threat level against him.

Ami Kochavi, the Mayor of Hod Hasharon, a city of some 65,000 people in central Israel, said during Holocaust Day speech that Israel was on the road to permitting atrocities. He accused the Israeli military (IDF) of a lust for revenge.

“Jewish morality dictates, ‘Never again’ — not just to us, but to all peoples, as an ethical and moral command on a just and healthy society,” Mayor Kochavi said. “We must not be silent in the face of atrocities carried out against people of other nations in the world — even if they are carried out in our name,” he continued.

“Some 59 of our brothers and sisters are still held hostage in Gaza. Their ‘never again’ is still ongoing,” he continued, referring to the 24 living and 35 dead captives still held by Hamas in Gaza. And the lust for revenge, for blood and destruction won’t bring us back the dead, or the living,” he said.

“As the descendants of survivors of the Holocaust, who together with other pioneers founded the State of the Jews — it is incumbent on us to ensure that the memory of the Holocaust, the steps that led to it, the legal and ethical justifications that were given to it, and the silence that accompanied it — all of them will be made into warning signs to the entire world, and also to us, to remember and to warn,” he said.

Members of the Israeli government have now accused the Mayor of Hod Hasharon of siding with the terrorists. Israel’s Culture Minister Miki Zohar wrote on social media that Ami Kochavi was spitting in the face of Holocaust survivors. Energy Minister Eli Cohen accused Kochavi of choosing to identify with Israel’s enemies and damage the name of the country’s heroic soldiers.

Mayor Kochavi has been a thorn in the eye of Israeli right-wing politicians for some time. In 2023, he joined a protest against the government’s judicial reform. In support of women's rights, he wrote: "Where there is no equality and rights, there is racism, intimidation, and violence.”

Sources: The Times of Israel, The New Arab

Further reading: Israel’s attacks on cities in Gaza cause destruction and death on an unimaginable scale

MIDDLE EAST / TURKEY

Kurdish mayor tells UN that women are a force for peace and stability in the Middle East

March 2025: The co-mayor from Diyarbakır (Turkey), attended the 69th session of the United Nations Commission on the Status of Women (10-21 March 2025) to plead with member states to promote women’s political participation and leadership. Serra Bucak, one of the most outspoken women mayors in Turkey, delivered a passionate plea for gender-focused governance and international solidarity against political repression.

Serra Bucak, co-mayor of the Metropolitan Municipality of Diyarbakır (Amed), the de facto regional capital of the Kurdish region of Turkey, addressed the high-level women’s leadership summit, informing her audience on the fight of Kurdish women for equal representation and the ground-breaking model of male-female co-mayorship in Kurdish areas of Turkey.

Mayor Bucak condemned Turkey’s practice of removing elected mayors and replacing them with government-appointed trustees, a policy widely seen as targeting municipalities governed by the pro-Kurdish Equality and Democracy (DEM) Party. “Appointing trustees is not just an attack on the political will of the people but also a direct assault on women’s gains in local governance,” she said. “Women’s struggles cannot be confined to national borders. We must expand international solidarity to safeguard their role in decision-making.”

“As co-mayor, I am not only a local administrator but also an activist,” she said. “Kurdish women have fought not just for their liberation, but for the freedom of all peoples. Making this struggle visible on a global scale is our responsibility.”

Following the settlement between the Kurdish authorities and the new government in neighbouring Syria, Serra Bucak stressed the need for women’s active involvement in peace processes, referring to UN Security Council Resolution 1325, which calls for increased female participation in conflict resolution and security policy. “Women must be at the heart of peace negotiations,” she said. “The Kurdish women’s movement is one of the most powerful forces for regional stability, advocating not only for Kurdish rights but for peace across the Middle East.”

Source: Medya News

On other pages: Turkish women mayors

LEBANON

Lebanese mayor killed in Israeli airstrike on Nabatieh

October 2024: In southern Lebanon, the mayor of Nabatieh, Ahmed Kahil and at least five others were killed in an Israeli airstrike. The attack raised fears that Israel's expanding air campaign, designed to crush Iran-backed Hezbollah, could increasingly include public officials and buildings, which so far have been spared. Lebanon's caretaker Prime Minister Najib Mikati, condemned the attack on the provincial capital, saying it "intentionally targeted a municipal council meeting to discuss the city's service and relief situation."

The UN’s Special Coordinator also condemned the Israeli attack on Lebanon. In yesterday’s (16 October 2024) statement, Jeanine Hennis-Plasschaert* called the Israeli actions a violation of international humanitarian law. “Civilians and civilian infrastructure must be protected at all times.” She appealed to both sides in the conflict to respect and protect civilians and civilian institutions, which are vital in mitigating the destruction caused by the fighting. “the attack on Nabatieh follows other incidents in which civilians and civilian infrastructure have been targeted across Lebanon. The reported killing of a humanitarian first responder is, tragically, part of this pattern.”

The attack was the most significant against a Lebanese state building since the latest escalation in fighting, which began about two weeks ago and has raised concerns about the safety of the country’s state infrastructure.

A spokesman for the Israeli military said its forces had launched raids on dozens of Hezbollah targets in the area and destroyed a tunnel used by the Iran-backed group. "We know that Hezbollah many times takes advantage of civilian facilities," Israel's UN ambassador Danny Danon said at a meeting of the UN in New York City.

Nabatieh’s regional governor, Howaida Turk, told the French news agency AFP that while the majority of Nabatieh residents had already left the area following heavy Israeli air strikes, the mayor and other municipal employees had stayed behind to help those who remained.

* Jeanine Antoinette Hennis-Plasschaert is a Dutch politician from the liberal People's Party for Freedom and Democracy (VVD). She was Dutch Minister of Defence from 2012 to 2017. She has worked for the United Nations since 2018, until 2024 as UN Special Representative for Iraq and since then as UN Special Coordinator for Lebanon.

PALESTINE

Palestine mayors struggle to serve both occupiers and the local population*

October 2024: Since the occupation of the Palestine West Bank in 1967, Israel has experimented with different forms of rule. Since the 1990s, the occupying power has delegated certain governing responsibilities to the Palestinian Authority (PA), an organisation that, Israel hoped, would act as a buffer between the military occupation and the Palestinian population.

Now, a recently published book provides an analysis of towns and cities across the West Bank. Its author, Diana B. Greenwald, offers a new theory of local government under indirect rule - a strategy that is often associated with imperial powers of the past but persists in settings of colonialism and state-building today.

The book Mayors in the Middle traces how what the author calls the ‘Israel-PA regime’ has influenced the constraints and incentives of Palestinians serving in local government. The author has based her findings on numerous interviews with Palestinian mayors, council members, staff, activists, and political elites, as well as careful data analysis of municipal governance under occupation.

Diana Greenwald argues that mayors are both seen as part of the ‘Israeli-PA regime and as opponents. She draws illustrative parallels with British colonial India and South Africa’s apartheid regime.

* Diana B. Greenwald is an assistant professor of political science at the City College of New York. Mayors in the Middle Indirect (Rule and Local Government in Occupied Palestine) is published by Columbia University Press.

Please email us with any questions or suggestions you may have