Meir Nitzan (; born 1931) is an Israeli politician. He was mayor of

Rishon Lezion Rishon LeZion ( he, רִאשׁוֹן לְצִיּוֹן , ''lit.'' First to Zion, Arabic: راشون لتسيون) is a city in Israel, located along the central Israeli coastal plain south of Tel Aviv. It is part of the Gush Dan metropolitan ar ...

for five consecutive terms.

Biography

Meir Nitzan was born in Bucharest, Romania. He lived in a displaced persons' camp in Cyprus before making

Aliyah Aliyah (, ; he, עֲלִיָּה ''ʿălīyyā'', ) is the immigration of Jews from Jewish diaspora, the diaspora to, historically, the geographical Land of Israel, which is in the modern era chiefly represented by the Israel, State of Israel ...

at age 16. Upon his arrival in Israel, he lived in the then- transit camp Pardes Hanna. In the

Israel Defense Forces The Israel Defense Forces (IDF; he, צְבָא הַהֲגָנָה לְיִשְׂרָאֵל , ), alternatively referred to by the Hebrew-language acronym (), is the national military of the Israel, State of Israel. It consists of three servic ...

, Nitzan served in the Ordnance Corps and reached the rank of colonel. He retired in 1979, but returned upon a promotion to brigadier general as the deputy head of the Technological and Logistics Directorate.

Political career

Nitzan became mayor of Rishon LeZion in 1983 and was re-elected four times. In November 2008, he lost the municipal elections to

Dov Zur Dov Zur ( he, דב צור; born 1956) is an Israeli politician and the former mayor of Rishon LeZion. Biography and personal life Zur was born in Rishon LeZion on October 17, 1955, to a Syrian mother and Hungarian father. Zur is a divorcee and ...

. After his defeat, Nitzan announced that he would run in the Kadima party primaries and vie for a seat in the Knesset in the 2009 elections. However, he later left the party to support Likud as he was unhappy with the behaviour of party leader Tzipi Livni. Kadima claimed Nitzan quit because the party refused to cover his campaign debts. Nitzan served as acting mayor of

Lod Lod ( he, לוד, or fully vocalized ; ar, اللد, al-Lidd or ), also known as Lydda ( grc, Λύδδα), is a city southeast of Tel Aviv and northwest of Jerusalem in the Central District of Israel. It is situated between the lower Shephe ...

in 2011–2013. During his tenure, the crime rate dropped, the municipality organized a , a traditional Arab conciliatory meeting between two feuding families, and the budget was balanced.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Nitzan, Meir 1931 births Living people Israeli generals Kadima politicians Likud politicians Mayors of places in Israel People from Lod Mayors of Rishon LeZion Romanian emigrants to Israel Romanian Jews Technion – Israel Institute of Technology alumni