Consensus is near unknown in Jerusalem. One thing is agreed, however: Ehud Olmert was an execrable mayor. He kowtowed to fatcats, kowtowed to ultra-Orthodox apparatchiks, lined his pockets at the expense of constituents whose pockets were worn to holes.

His successor, by contrast, has proven a leader of estimable skill and rare compassion. There were fears that when Uri Lupolianski, the ultra-Orthodox founder of the Yad Sarah organization - a grass-roots phenomenon which aids thousands of individuals and families with special and serious physical needs - he would be unable to meet the demands of one of the world's most contentious cities, a city so crucial to the world that it effectively has a foreign policy all its own.

But Lupolianski has shown again and again, in his efforts to encourage secular students to move to the city, in his efforts to aid the homeless, in his moderate approach to gay-haredi strife, that he has a unique ability to find solutions to an impossible reality.

So it was this week, with the government ham-handling the restoration work near the Temple Mount, and militant Muslim leaders doing their best to put their faces in the center of the television screen with incitement and inflammatory untruths accusing Israel of being out to destroy Al-Aqsa.

On Sunday night, with the prime minister and Defense Minister Amir Peretz trading kindergarten insults over the handling of the decision to go ahead with excavations aimed at rebuilding a bridge entrance to the Temple Mount, and with Public Security Minister Avi Dichter pooh-poohing the protests at the site as less than serious, Lupolianski took action.

Lupolianski and the rabbi of the Western Wall, Shmuel Rabinovich, discussed the issue the way Olmert and Peretz should have. They spoke with Attorney General Menachem Mazuz, municipal planning authorities, Muslim community leaders and other representatives of the Arab population of East Jerusalem.

They then drafted a plan which would allow the general public to review plans for the bridge and submit opposition, announcing that construction of the walkway at the Mugrabi Ascent would be suspended until zoning authorities complete plans for the area, a procedure which could take months, perhaps years.

The decision recognizes the sensitivity of the site which, if not addressed, could easily turn it into the Chernobyl of the powderkeg Mideast.

In taking the decision, Lupolianski was up against enormous pressure, not only from the government, but from the religious right. MK Aryeh Eldad of the National Union called it "a surrender to the Arabs."

The Yesha settlers council, meanwhile, chose the opportunity to announce that for once - perhaps for the only time - it is backing the government, "which is not caving in to threats and fabrications," and urged Olmert's cabinet to allow Jews to worship on the Temple Mount.

Yesha's Rabbinical Committee added "The violent events on the Temple Mount are the rotten fruit of the weakness that Israeli governments have demonstrated since the liberation of the Temple Mount in the Six Day War.

"This is a direct result of the negation of the rights of the Jews at the site.

Many rabbis - including Rabinovich - have ruled the Temple Mount site off-limits to Jews, citing halachic prohibitions on entering the area where the Temple courtyard once lay, and the difficulty of fulfilling the ancient ritual requirement of cleansing with the ashes of a red heifer.

Lupolianski's most risky, most radical move may have been his explanation for the decision: transparency, proper procedure, and consideration for the sensitivities of the public.

He told associates Sunday that "the plan to construct the walkway engendered a wave of rumor and speculation about Israeli intentions regarding the [Al-Aqsa] mosque."

"We therefore decided to be totally transparent with all residents about the walkway construction plan, so they will know clearly where it is to be built and to allow members of the public to express their positions to the zoning board," Lupolianski continued.

In a step of truly remarkable courage, given the local propensity for macho displays of assertiveness through brute force and unethical cunning, Lupoliansky said he also wanted to avoid the feeling among the public that the work constitutes some sort of an Israeli ambush.

"The move is slated to help people understand that the walkway is in no way injurious and does not enter the Temple Mount. It is important to us that there is no feeling that this was done covertly or sneakily."

With crackpot, defeatist, traitorous, unmanly thinking like this, Lupolianski may well save the Temple Mount. He may well stave off World War III.

It would be shame to lose a man like that in City Hall. But it may be time to think about having him follow Olmert one bus ride across town. It could be that just as Lupolianski, not Olmert, was the right man as mayor, Lupolianski - certainly not Olmert - may be just the man for the Prime Minister's Office.