In September 1934, Kalidi sought election as both as
Mayor of Jerusalem and for
Raghib al-Nashashibi's seat on the City Council. He won the latter, and was subsequently appointed to the former on 21 January 1935, days after an appeal of the election results by Nashashibi was rejected by the Jerusalem District Court.
Daniel Auster and
Yacoub Farradj became Deputy Mayors. On 23 June 1935 Khalidi founded the
Reform Party and was subsequently the party's representative to the
Arab Higher Committee. On 1 October 1937, amid the
1936–1939 Arab revolt in Palestine, the British Mandate administration outlawed the AHC and several Arab political parties and arrested a number of Arab political leaders. The Reform Party was dissolved and Khalidi was one of the leaders arrested. He was removed as mayor of Jerusalem and deported to the
Seychelles, together with four other Arab nationalist political leaders. Khalidi returned to
Mandatory Palestine in November 1942 and joined the reformed Arab Higher Committee in 1945, becoming its secretary in 1946. He was a member of the short-lived
All-Palestine Government established under Egypt's patronage in Gaza in September 1948. He published a book of his memoirs in the same year, while exiled in Beirut. He prospered under
Jordanian rule, he was custodian and supervisor of the
Haram al-Sharif in 1951, became a cabinet minister (for Foreign Affairs) and briefly
prime minister in 1957. In 1958, he wrote a book in English entitled
Arab Exodus, though it has never been published. He was the brother of
Ismail Khalidi and the uncle of
Rashid Khalidi and Raja Khalidi. ==See also==