Ruhi al-Khatib was born in Jerusalem in 1914. He joined the English College and spent three years there, obtaining a Cambridge Certificate in 1929. He was appointed as a teacher at the Islamic Orphanage in Jerusalem in 1931, and in 1943, he was transferred to the Labor Affairs Department. Then, he was appointed head of the Arab Bureau in Jerusalem and remained in this position until 1949, when he devoted himself to economic and urban work in Jerusalem. In 1957, he was appointed Mayor of Jerusalem and also contributed to the establishment of the Jerusalem District Electricity Company before he died in 1994.

The Ruhi al-Khatib Collection contains 395 photographs of him, taken during his visits and meetings in different countries and with other religious and political figures, such as Bassam Shakaa.