Kollek, Jerusalem’s Longtime Mayor, Loses Reelection Bid : Israel: Critic of accord with the PLO captures post. Serious national implications are seen for the Rabin government.

Teddy Kollek, the mayor of Jerusalem for 28 years, was defeated for reelection Tuesday by a tough critic of Israel’s accord with the Palestine Liberation Organization on Palestinian self-government.

Kollek, who had seen the election as a referendum on the peace agreement as well as on his policies of coexistence between Jew and Arab, religious and secular, lost decisively to Ehud Olmert, a leader of the right-wing Likud Party.

With half of the votes counted, Olmert had 56% against 38% for Kollek; a third candidate received the balance. An exit poll had given Olmert 55% to 41% for Kollek. Olmert’s supporters also appeared to have won control of the Jerusalem City Council.

Despite a low 35% turnout, the election had serious implications for the government of Prime Minister Yitzhak Rabin, who had campaigned for Kollek and asked for a vote of confidence in his pursuit of peace with the Palestinians and Israel’s other Arab neighbors.

“There is a national political significance to this victory,” said Olmert, who benefited from a strong backlash from the recent upsurge in political violence on the occupied West Bank and Gaza Strip and consequent Israeli fears over the future. “Rabin said this would be a test of the agreement (with the PLO), and this result is against that agreement.”

Kollek, 82, was bitter about his defeat by a politician he called divisive, dishonest and hostile to his vision of a city that should be a united and harmonious home to different communities of Jews and Arabs.

“This way is not the right way for Jerusalem to go,” Kollek said. “I am sorry for Jerusalem residents who will have to endure what lies ahead. Those who determined the results are those who did not come out to vote, and they will have to live with their consciences.”

Olmert, 48, served as health minister in former Prime Minister Yitzhak Shamir’s hard-line government, although his reputation was more as a combative pragmatist than as an ideologue.

Kollek had campaigned on his ability to keep peace in Jerusalem as it becomes a major focus in the Arab-Israeli peace negotiations in the next two years, but Olmert contended that, after six terms, Kollek was simply too old and tired for the job.

Rabin, who had urged Kollek to run again, said as the veteran mayor’s defeat became clear: “Jerusalem and the people of Israel lost the great builder of Jerusalem in the modern age.”

Although Olmert campaigned hard on municipal issues, he stressed his commitment to making Jerusalem an even more Jewish city, encouraging Jews to live in the predominantly Arab neighborhoods of East Jerusalem.

“I had a big fear that Jerusalem was going to become a province of a Palestinian state,” he said Tuesday, explaining his focus on the city’s future. “Jerusalem will be a Jewish city.”

Olmert owed his victory primarily to a last-minute deal with a religious, ultra-Orthodox party, whose mayoral candidate withdrew Monday night in exchange for control of several key city departments. Thanking his supporters, Olmert promised a partnership with the haredi Orthodox.

The second element in Kollek’s defeat and Olmert’s victory was the virtual boycott of the election by the city’s Arab residents, fewer than 10% of whom voted despite Kollek’s pleas for their support.

Rabin, acknowledging the results as a serious political setback for his government, commented: “This will echo negatively on the peace efforts of Israel throughout the world, especially the Arab world, and in Israel. I was hoping for different results--for a clear message of support for the peace process.”

Benjamin Netanyahu, the Likud Party chairman, called Olmert’s election “a great victory for Likud and for the residents of Jerusalem who preferred the alliance between Likud and the haredim (ultra-Orthodox) to the alliance between Labor and the PLO.”

“Prime Minister Rabin . . . wanted a test, and he got it,” Netanyahu said at Olmert’s victory celebration. “The results prove that the Likud is not only standing on its feet, but stepping forward.”

In Tel Aviv, the Likud candidate for mayor, Ronnie Milo, won over Labor’s Avigdor Kahalani, but in Haifa, the Labor candidate, Amram Mitzna, won easily, according to extensive but incomplete results.

In Israel’s smaller cities and towns, Likud appeared to have retained control of municipal governments in places that Labor, the victor in the 1992 parliamentary elections, had hoped to capture, and even won several more local councils. Going into the election, Likud controlled 56 municipalities against Labor’s 33.

“This will probably slow the obsession of Mr. Rabin and his government for withdrawing from all the (occupied) territories without achieving real peace,” said Tzachi Hanegbi, a Likud member of Parliament.

Ron Nachman, mayor of the West Bank settlement of Ariel and a Likud member of Parliament, commented, “I see in these results the beginning of the end of this government.”

The contest in Jerusalem was particularly hard fought because of the city’s importance in an Arab-Israeli peace settlement. Both Palestinians and Israelis claim Jerusalem as their capital, making it one of the most sensitive issues in the negotiations. Talks on the future status of all the occupied territories, including Jerusalem, are due to begin in two years.

Olmert vowed to block any Israeli concessions on Jerusalem, and as mayor he could have a major impact on the talks. Kollek, who wanted that pivotal role for himself, had also declared that Jerusalem must remain united under Israeli sovereignty, but he advocated Israeli-Arab coexistence here. Jerusalem’s current population of 550,000 is 72% Jewish, 28% Arab.

“I will not talk to them about political concessions,” Olmert said Tuesday of the city’s 150,000 Arab residents, “but I will treat them fairly, honestly and justly as residents who have the right to equal municipal services.”

Radwan abu Ayash, a senior official in the PLO’s Fatah faction, said the Likud victory “means they will start more settlements and try to strengthen their position in the negotiations expected about Jerusalem.”

Times researcher Dianna M. Cahn contributed to this report.