The elections were approved by President Yasser Arafat of the Palestinian National Authority (PNA), before his death on 11 November 2004.
Previous municipal elections were held in 1972 and 1976, organized by the Israeli occupation power.
[1] The elections were scheduled to take place in five rounds, but the fifth was not carried out, because of the situation in Palestinian Territories after the formation of a Hamas-led government.
The Jerusalem electoral district was divided into two zones: In Beit Jala, six seats went to the United Beit Jala list (Fatah and one member of the Palestinian People's Party), five seats went to Sons of the Land (PFLP and independents), one seat went to Independent Beit Jala Group and one candidate was elected as an independent.
The top candidate of the Sons of the Land list was Nadir Antoun Issa Abu Ashma, while the top candidate of the United Beit Jala list was Raji George Jadallah Zeidan.