KAFR KANNA, Israel – Mansour Abbas, a conservative Muslim, is an unlikely political partner for the leaders of the Jewish state.
He is a proponent of political Islam. He heads an Arab party, drawn from the same religious stream that produced the militant Hamas movement. And for most of his political life, he never considered supporting the legal parties that Israel has led for the past four decades.
But if Mr. Abbas has his sense, he can help decide the next Israeli prime minister after next month’s general election, even if it means a right-wing alliance must return to power. Tired of the peripheral role that the Arab parties of Israel have traditionally played, he hopes that his small Islamic group, Raam, will keep the balance of power after the election and be an inevitable partner for any Jewish leader who wants to form a coalition.
“We can work with anyone,” he said. Abbas said in an interview about the campaign route in Kafr Kanna, a small Arab village in northern Israel, at the place where the Christian Bible says that Jesus turned water into wine. In the past, Arab politicians have looked into the political process in Israel, he said. Now, he added, “Arabs seek a real role in Israeli politics.”
Mr. Abbas’ shift is part of a broader transformation taking place within the Arab political world in Israel.
Accelerating through the election campaign, two trends are coming together: On the one hand, Arab politicians and voters increasingly believe that they should improve the power of the Arabs in Israel instead of exerting pressure from outside. Separately, the mainstream Israeli parties realize that they need to attract Arab voters to win a very close election – and some are willing to work with Arab parties as potential coalition partners.
Both tendencies are born more out of political pragmatism than dogma. And while the moment has the potential to give Arab voters real power, it could backfire: Abbas’ actions will divide the Arab vote, as well as the revelations of parties led by the Jew, and both factors could affect the numbers of Arabs legislators in the United States. next parliament.
But after a strong performance in the recent election, in which Arab parties won a record 15 seats, became the third largest party in parliament with 120 seats, and were still locked out of the governing coalition, some are looking for other options.
“After more than a decade with Netanyahu in power, some Arab politicians have come up with a new approach: if you can not defeat him, join him,” said Mohammad Magadli, a well-known Arab television host. “This approach is bold, but it’s also very dangerous.”
Palestinian citizens of Israel make up more than a fifth of the Israeli population. Since the founding of the state in 1948, they have always sent a handful of Arab lawmakers to parliament. But lawmakers have always struggled to make an impact.
Jewish leaders did not see Arab parties as acceptable coalition partners – some on the right made them blasphemous as enemies of the state and sought the suspension of Arab lawmakers from parliament. In turn, Arab parties were generally more comfortable in the opposition and provided only infrequent support to center-left parties whose influence had waned since the turn of the century.
In some ways, this dynamic has worsened over the past few years. In 2015, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu called the threat of a relatively high turnout from Arab countries: “Arab voters are flocking to the polls in large numbers,” he warned on election day – to scare his base into voting. In 2018, his government passed new legislation that downgraded the status of Arabs and formally described Israel as the nation state of the Jewish people only. And in 2020, even his rival, Benny Gantz, refused to form a government based on the support of Arab parties.
But a year later, as Israel goes into political stalemate after its fourth election in two years, this paradigm is rapidly changing.
Mr. Netanyahu is now campaigning hard for Arab voters. Following his leadership, Yair Lapid, a centrist candidate for the premiership, said he could form a coalition with Arab lawmakers, although he despised them earlier in his career. Two left-wing parties have promised to work with an alliance of Arab lawmakers to advance Arab interests.
Voting indicates that a majority of Palestinian citizens of Israel want their legislators to play a role in government. Mr. Abbas says Arab politicians must gain influence by supporting parties that promise to improve Arab society. Another prominent Arab politician, Ali Salam, the mayor of Nazareth, Israel’s largest Arab city, has expressed support for Mr. Netanyahu and argued that the prime minister, despite his comments in the past, is sincere about improving Arab lives.
“In the Israeli political system, it used to be a sin to work with Arab parties or even Arab voters,” said Nahum Barnea, one of Israel’s best-known columnists. But Mr. Netanyahu suddenly made Arabs a legitimate partner of any political maneuver. ‘
“In a way, he opened a box that, I hope, can not be closed in future,” he said. Barnea added.
The transition of mr. Netanyahu was one of the most remarkable. He promised greater resources for Arab communities and to fight endemic crime in Arab neighborhoods. And he called himself ‘Yair’s father’ – a reference to his son, Yair, who also lovingly refers to the Arabic custom of referring to someone as the parent of their firstborn.
In a watershed moment in January, he announced a “new era” for Arab Israelis during a rally in Nazareth and apologized qualified for his past comments about Arab voters. “Then I apologized, and I apologize today,” he said, adding that critics “distorted my words.”
Critics say that Mr. Netanyahu is courting Arab voters because he needs them to win, not because he genuinely cares about them. This month, he also agreed to include within his next coalition a far-right party whose leader wants to disqualify many Arabs from serving in parliament. And he ruled out the formation of a government that relied on Mr. Abbas.
Next month’s election is expected to be as close as the previous three.
Mr. Netanyahu is currently facing charges of corruption, and if he stays in power, he can follow laws that keep him from prosecution.
“Netanyahu cares, is Netanyahu,” said Afif Abu Much, a prominent commentator on Arab politics in Israel.
Similarly, Arab politicians and voters did not throw out all their discomfort with Zionism and Israeli policy in the occupied territories. But there is a growing realization that problems facing the Arab community – gang violence, poverty and discrimination in access to housing and land – will not be solved without Arab politicians shaping policy at the highest level.
“I want different results, so I have to change the approach,” he said. Abbas said. “The crises in Arab society have reached a boiling point.”
Yet Mr Abbas’s plan could easily fail and undermine the small influence that Arab citizens currently have.
To present its new platform, Mr. Abbas withdrew from an alliance of Arab parties, the Joint List, whose remaining members were not convinced to work with the Israeli right. And this rift could dilute the collective power of Arab lawmakers.
Support for mr. Abbas’ party is currently hanging close to the 3.25 percent threshold needed by parties to gain access to parliament. Even if his party scrapes above the line, there is no guarantee that any candidate for the premiership will need or need the party’s support to get the 61 seats needed to form a coalition.
Mr Netanyahu could, despite his previous incitement against Arabs, also withdraw Arab voters from Arab parties, reducing their influence. Even more can remain at home, disillusioned by the divisions within the Arab parties and their inability to bring about meaningful change, or to boycott a state whose authority they reject.
“I do not believe in any of them, or trust any of them,” said Siham Ighbariya, a 40-year-old homemaker. She became prominent through her quest to bring about justice for her husband and son, who were murdered at home in 2012 by an unknown killer.
“I treated everyone,” she said. Ighbariya said about the Arab political class. “And nothing happened.”
For some Palestinians, participating in the Israeli government is a betrayal of the Palestinian cause – a criticism that Mr. Abbas understands. “I have this deep personal conflict inside me,” he admitted. “We have been dealing with a conflict, a bloody and difficult conflict, for 100 years.”
But it was time to move on, he added. “You need to be able to look to the future and build a better future for everyone, Arabs and Jews.”