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Apr. 8, 2021 11:53 PM
For the second time in a year, the political moment of Israel’s Arabs came and went. The first time was in March 2020, when the Joint List amassed 15 Knesset seats and suddenly became a player in Israel’s coalition politics. The second time was last month, when Mansour Abbas said his United Arab List party might even enter a government led by Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.
Both moments have passed, leaving the Arab parties in the opposition for now, but the forces that have created this political revolution remain. The fateful decision by many Arab leaders to abandon their old stance as parties of protest in favor of pragmatism have deep roots in the changes underway in Arab society. They are not a fleeting phenomenon, and Jewish Israelis are going to have to come around to the new reality.
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The representative of the fourth party, the United Arab List, left the meeting and was not present when the announcement was given.
“We must admit to the Arab public that we did not manage to reach agreements,” said Mansour Dahamshe, secretary general of Hadash. Knesset member Osama Saadi, who represents the Ta’al party, said that the parties had not managed to come to a consensus and therefore there was no choice but to announce the breakup of the Joint List in its current form.
United Arab List Chairman Mansour Abbas accused the other parties of not wanting to respect religious and traditional values, and of wishing to stay on the political sidelines.