The challenges of being the Mayor of Ramallah, the de facto capital of Palestine

An insightful, darkly comedic and tragic documentary about keeping a city running whilst Israeli soldiers can appear at any time.

Please make this essential viewing.

Before VICE went over to the dark side, they had The Short List which featured award-winning documentaries offering deep insight into different communities. Thankfully, it’s still online.

One of the best is ‘The Mayor’ which they described as “an intimate and darkly comedic look at what it takes to be Musa Hadid, the beloved [Christian] Mayor of Ramallah, during the ongoing Israeli-Palestinian conflict.”

Having spent years observing politicians and officials whilst sitting in the council chamber of Knysna, a small town in South Africa, I have a lot of appreciation for the challenges that Hadid faced over his 10 years as Mayor (he’s currently the Deputy Chairman of the Palestinian National Council).

Of course, he additionally had the spectacularly unique problem of running a town that could randomly be invaded by Israeli soldiers at their whim (which we see in the documentary).

Ramallah is the defacto capital of Palestine. Some may be surprised to know that it has a strong Christian minority, and that its hosts churches for the Orthodox, Lutherans, Evangelicals and Anglicans.