The Association of Palestinian Local Authorities (APLA) held a meeting with the newly elected mayors of the governorate center municipalities in the West Bank. The meeting was chaired by APLA’s President Mr. Abdal Karim Al-Zubaidi and attended by the Executive Director, Mr. Abdallah Anati, along with the mayors of the governorate centers: Mr. Salem Ghrouf, Mayor of Jericho; Mr. Muneef Trish, Mayor of Al-Bireh; Mr. Yousef Al-Jaabari, Mayor of Hebron; Ms. Anan Atira, Mayor of Nablus; Mr. Hanna Hanania, Mayor of Bethlehem; Mr. Mohammad Jarrar, Mayor of Jenin; Mr. Yaqoub Saadeh, Mayor of Ramallah; Mr. Diaa’ Bani Nimrah, Mayor of Salfeet; Mr. Mahmoud Daraghmeh, Mayor of Tubas; and Mr. Nasr Fuqaha, Mayor of Tulkarm.
During the meeting, Mr. Abdal Karim Al-Zubaidi gave a presentation about APLA’s, outlining its vision, mission, and goals. He also provided an overview of APLA’s key programs and initiatives, highlighting its efforts to represent the interests of LGUs and its role in policy development, and support the development of regulations and laws for the local government sector.
For his part, Executive Director Mr. Abdallah Anati explained the process for electing APLA’s Administrative Board, based on APLA’s Internal Regulations and the Transitional Roadmap adopted by the association. This process aims to set up APLA’s administrative and executive bodies and ends with assigning leadership roles — President, Deputy President, Secretary General, and Treasurer — and forming the various committees that come from both the Administrative and Executive Boards.
According to APLA’s regulations, the mayors of the governorate-center municipalities will organize orientation and electoral meetings for local authorities in their governorates. Those meetings will choose representatives from each governorate to serve on APLA’s Administrative Board. The Executive Board will then be formed from among the elected Administrative Board members and will be responsible for assigning leadership positions in line with APLA’s Internal Regulations.
The mayors present reaffirmed APLA’s important role, especially in shaping local government policy and defending the rights and interests of LGUs. They emphasized the need to strengthen cooperation and collective action among all local authorities to improve resilience amid current challenges. The participants agreed to begin organizing local authority meetings across the governorates right away and to start forming APLA’s Administrative and Executive Boards.