The challenger's appeal to the less conservative had stronger resonance this time. In a telling incident that became known as the "Taliban affair," city officials inaugurating an urban rail bridge in June insisted that a group of schoolgirls about to perform a dance at the ceremony don ski caps and cloaks so as not to appear "promiscuous."
"People are abandoning the city because they feel stifled and cannot find good jobs," said Amnon Jonas, 42, a software technician who left Jerusalem a year ago but returned to campaign for Barkat in the hope of moving back here.
Barkat appealed to voters across the spectrum by pledging to bring tourism and high-tech ventures to Jerusalem and create thousands of new jobs.
He stirred controversy by calling for the construction in East Jerusalem of thousands of homes for Jews. That stance cost him support among secular liberals but gained votes among modern Orthodox Jews, settler groups and others on the right.
Such a project is certain to aggravate tensions with Arab residents, who dominate East Jerusalem and want to make that part of the city the capital of a separate Palestinian state.
As mayor, Barkat will have little influence on Israeli housing policy in Jerusalem or any Israeli-Palestinian peace negotiations over the city's status. But his opposition to the Palestinian demand to divide Jerusalem could affect the level of tension in the city.
Voters elsewhere in Israel chose mayors and legislative councils in 198 municipalities. With the election of a new Israeli government three months away, Tuesday's voting was a test of strength among its three biggest parties, but independent candidacies and local issues muddled the picture.
In Tel Aviv, two-term incumbent Mayor Ron Huldai, a retired general and fighter pilot credited with the city's real estate boom, won reelection over Dov Khenin, an Israeli parliament member running as an environmentalist.
Mayor Yaakov Terner lost his reelection bid in Beersheba to his onetime protege, Deputy Mayor Ruvik Danilowitz, after a bitter campaign that ended with the anonymous posting of phony notices on walls throughout the desert city reporting the 73-year-old Terner's death.
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boudreaux@latimes.com
