Alternative Information Center - Israeli elections column

With the growing influence of the Palestinian national movement after 1967 and the reduction of internal repression, the Palestinian population gradually moved away from its traditional support of Zionist parties. By 1977 nearly half of the voters supported the new coalition established by the ICP-- the Democratic Front for Peace and Equality-- which included many notables who had been previously connected to various Zionist parties, and in particular Labor.

In 1981 a new nationalist party was established (The Progressive List for Peace, which like the DFPE, included also several Jew candidates and got a small number of Jewish voters). A few years later, a part of the Islamic movement decided to run in the elections as well.

In the last election, three Arab independent lists competed for two thirds of the Arab vote, the remaining third going to various Jewish parties. The National Democratic Alliance, a radical nationalist party, got three MKs, the DFPE, allied with another small list, also received three mandates, and the conservative regrouping of moderate Islamists and nationalist notables received two. In these elections, the law fixed the minimum necessary to be represented at the Knesset to 1.5% of the voters. This time the minimum was raised to 2%; this minor change may be of tremendous significance to the Arab lists.

According to public opinion pools, together, the three lists will receive between 6 to 9% of the vote. However, each one alone may have less than the necessary 2%, which will be a catastrophe for the Palestinian population of Israel. This is why substantial pressure is being placed on the leaderships of the various Arab parties to establish a joint list.

Moreover, the need for a united list is not only a matter of electoral pragmatism: on the main issues, the differences between the three lists are minor; however, if they run separately, there are great risks that they will spend most of their energies fighting each other rather than concentrating their fire against the policies of the main Zionist parties. This is even more significant if one takes into consideration the severe attacks against the very rights of the Palestinian citizens of Israel, which have been unprecedented since the seventies.

A joint Arab list may create the conditions of a re-mobilization of the Palestinian voters and the emergence of a clear voice demanding, on the one hand, full equality between Jewish and Arab citizens and, on the other hand, the end of brutal unilateralism against the Palestinian population of the occupied territories, as well as the end of occupation.

In the coming days, the different parties will have to make a decision which may have implications not only for the Palestinian representation in the next Knesset, but on the ability of their constituency to launch a political counter-offensive after the severe blows of the last six years.