Mukhtar
Mukhtar
Village chief title in Ottoman-era Levant
A mukhtar also spelled mihtar (Arabic: مختار, romanized: mukhtār, lit. 'chosen one';[1] Greek: μουχτάρης) is a village chief in the Levant: "an old institution that goes back to the time of the Ottoman rule".[1] According to Amir S. Cheshin, Bill Hutman and Avi Melamed, the mukhtar "for centuries were the central figures".[2] They "were not restricted to Muslim communities" where even non-Arab "Christian and Jewish communities in the Arab world also had mukhtars."[2]
Quoting Tore Björgo: "The mukhtar was, among other things, responsible for collecting taxes and ensuring that law and order was prevailing in his village".[3]
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