New initiative in Israel for Jewish-Arab party
Asked why there isn’t a single Arab name signed on to their call to create a Jewish-Arab political framework, Mossi Raz explained. “It was intentional. We wanted only Jews to sign this letter, because in it, we atone for our sins, apologize for the past and extend a hand to the Arab community. We tell them that they extended a hand to us for years, but we rejected them. The situation is different now. We are the ones extending a hand to them. The goal of the members of this group is not to run for Knesset — it is to lay the groundwork for such a party’s run. We are the organizers, not the people who appear on stage. We will soon be joined by more public figures, including heads of local authorities, academics and representatives of Arab society.”
Anyone who keeps tabs on Arab society in Israel will know that many Arab voters are looking for a political home that is not the Arab Joint List. They consider the party to be an increasingly exclusive club. They feel — as I explained in an earlier Al-Monitor article — that the party is inaccessible to ‘outsiders.’ In other words, it is closed to any Arab who wants to run for Knesset, but is not a member of one of the four factions that compose the party. That may explain why the Arab electorate is often more dedicated to voting against Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu than for the Joint List.
On the other hand, the Jewish center-left is becoming increasingly repulsive to the Arab population after years of dissociating from potential Arab constituents, taking Arab society for granted and rejecting them whenever they reached out.
In very practical terms, and on the backdrop of the balance of power within the Knesset, the inevitable conclusion is that there isn’t a single center-left candidate who can really run for prime minister without the support of Arab society or its Knesset representatives. Could Gantz be asked by the president to form a government, if the members of the Joint List won’t recommend him? Of course not. This sense of revulsion toward the center-left might also explain why the Arab population is in no hurry to join the wave of protests that have appeared across the country in the last few months, in the wake of the coronavirus crisis.
What does the Arab society think about this initiative? As in so many other issues, opinions seem to be split. Attorney Ayman Abu Raya of Sakhnin posted on Facebook that the organizers were “Refugees from reality,” adding that “their future was behind them.” He told Al-Monitor, “I see nothing good coming out of this initiative. It’s time for people to start coming up with new ideas. The center-left thinks that we are in their pocket, but the alliance with them was a total failure. I see no reason why Arabs wouldn’t link up with the right-wing parties, in order to benefit the Arab public, which is in a state of total crisis. If anyone has any complaints about it, let them check the Joint List. It recommended Gantz and his party, which included right-wing extremists like [Zvi] Hauser and [Yoaz] Hendel.”
In contrast, Thabet Abu Rass, co-chair of the Abraham Initiatives organization, told Al-Monitor, “This is an important initiative. I welcome it. Any Jewish-Arab political partnership challenges the foundations of the Israeli right. Working together like that must include a solid base of people and involve agreeable, equal and clear dialogue. There is a lot to improve in this initiative, especially since there are already several groups in Israel calling for this kind of cooperation. They need to be consolidated. Dialogue with the Joint List is an important prerequisite for the success of the alliance.”