A rare photo of the Arab and British staff of the Jerusalem Municipality when Raghib al-Nashashibi was the elected mayor, in 1934.
Al-Nashashibi was a trained civil engineer who embraced politics at a turbulent time in Palestine’s history and served as mayor of Jerusalem for 14 years, overseeing many public works projects and earning him a reputation as the city’s modernizer. This was his last year in office; he lost the election that was held on September 26, 1934, to Hussein Khalidi. Although he filed a legal petition charging improprieties in the election, the court did not rule in his favor.
Hence this photo was likely one of the last taken of al-Nashashibi while he was in office.