“Jerusalem’s last foreign governor steps down as Yemen’s State Counsellor Bader Almansoob declares position obsolete”
Home to the Holy Places, the City of Jerusalem and its neighbouring town of Bethlehem, the birthplace of the Prophet Jesus Christ, are yet to evade the epicenter of controversy in global politics. Today has, nevertheless, marked the end of a final chapter of one of history’s little-known yet contentious footnotes.
Following the failed implementation of the United Nations Partition Plan for British Palestine in 1947, the predecessors of Yemen’s NEAY administration, as host to the Jerusalemite heirs of Zabid and a significant Jewish minority, had introduced a political appointment to the City in its own defiance of the status quo while endorsing the corpus separatum (c.s.).
Monseigneur Adib Murshed of Zabid, a member of the NEAY’s Senate-in-exile throughout the continued Yemeni Civil War, had been bestowed with the title of Governor-in-Chief of Greater Jerusalem and went on to be colloquially known as the Lord Governor among his own loyalists.
From 2014 and till the end of 2022, the Office of the Governor-in-Chief had entered into various agreements with over a dozen local governments (later known as the Municipalities of Greater Jerusalem) and even carved out a small faction within the Syrian Civil War. Following the de facto fall of Afghanistan’s republic in October 2021, the Jerusalemite governorship also undertook major humanitarian work and presented itself as a neutral polity for diplomatic efforts.
Zabid’s Monseigneur would also condemn the “violation of fundamental and basic human rights, civil liberties and the rule of law” in Myanmar (Burma) and urge for “reconciliation efforts [that] are inclusive of ethnic minorities…” when addressing the international community in his final speech, as reported by Al-Qubeiba News.
To the local journalists of Al Qubeiba, the Monseigneur had dedicated the last moments of his governorship to express his most sincere condolences to the House of Asaf Jahi following the recent death of the 8th Nizam of Hyderabad who served as among the last internationally-recognized leaders within the Ottoman dynasty.
Despite relinquishing his ceremonial governorship in Jerusalem (c.s.), the Lord Zabid will retain his titular chief magistracy and has pledged to continue to serve as the President of the Yemeni-backed Jerusalemite Ascendancy for many more years to come.
