After years of the Jerusalem Waqf Council being dormant with very few changes occurring, a more vibrant council is emerging with the Jordanian government taking a more active role in making changes to ensure the council is more reflective of Palestinians in Jerusalem.

Established after 1967, the council is usually composed of about 11 Islamic religious personalities. Numbers would sometimes change if members passed away or were unable to fulfill their duties. But in February 2019, the Jordanian government took the previously unprecedented move of widening the membership and adding nonreligious political local leaders and experts to the council. The Jordanian government attempted to avoid political appointees so as not to be accused of interfering in local Palestinian politics.

The council was expanded to 19 with businessmen, academics, journalists and lawyers added, making the Jerusalem Waqf Council much more representative of the people of Jerusalem. Without local elections taking place in east Jerusalem, the council became a de facto representative body for Palestinian Jerusalemites.

The move toward a more representative council witnessed yet another change on March 9, 2021. A new waqf council was announced with yet another expansion from 19 to 23 members. The Jordanian Waqf Ministry will recommend the names, and the Jordanian Cabinet must approve. Some in the Israeli media claim that the new council is less PLO and more Jordanian, but the reality doesn’t necessarily back this claim.

Two former PLO and Palestinian National Authority officials were removed, but their replacements were also from within the Palestinian national movement. Former Fatah Revolutionary Council member Hatem Abdel Qader and former Minister of Trade Mazen Sinokrot were removed. Abdel Qader, who has been vocally supportive of Nasser Al Kidwa and his new list with Fadwa Barghouti, the wife of Marwan Barghouti, as its No. 2, can be seen as a nod to President Mahmoud Abbas and not against him.