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Home , Ayman Odeh, Hadash, Issawi Frej, Joint List, Meretz, Nof HaGalil

NO. 18 MARCH 2021 Introduction

Towards Jewish-Arab Normalization in Israeli Want a More Pragmatic Politics while Jewish Parties Court the Arab Vote Lidia Averbukh

In the run-up to the 2021 elections to the , Jewish parties are actively courting the votes of Israeli Arabs, who constitute 17 per cent of all Israelis eligible to vote. At the same time, Israeli Arabs are increasingly emphasizing the need for a politics that will help improve their living circumstances and allow them greater political participation. While the alliance of Arab parties continues to follow its traditional opposi- tionist course and has come to terms with the decision of one of its members, the Islamic Movement (Ra’am), to split away, the election campaign has seen the emergence of new Arab politics, whose actors advocate a more pragmatic approach and are looking to cooperate with Jewish parties. The Israeli-Palestinian conflict and the identity of the Jewish state of Israel are playing a secondary role. The situation is similar in Israeli local politics, where and Arabs are already engaged in interest-based cooperation.

“For many, many years, the Arab public sought to intimidate them. For example, was outside the mainstream of leadership,” it arranged for cameras to be installed at Israeli Prime Minister Netanyahu said the polling stations in Arab districts because during the 2021 election campaign. But of what it alleged was fraudulent voting. there was no reason for this, he commented, In 2015 Netanyahu warned about “Arabs adding that the elections should demon- going in droves to the polling stations”. Nor strate that the Arabs are part of Israel’s suc- were the parties from the Left or the Centre cess story. With these words, he signalled able to duck the impact of the anti-Arab a remarkable turnaround, since a coalition slogans. They distanced themselves from with Arab parties had been taboo in the Arab voters and parties for fear of being election campaigns of recent years. Right- discredited as anti-Zionist. Both camps – wing Jewish parties regarded their Arab the Right and the Centre-Left – adopted counterparts as the “fifth column”, as sub- strategies that counted mainly on the versive actors with whom cooperation Jewish vote. The bulk of the Arab voter would pose an existential threat to the was left, virtually uncontested, to the Arab state. In order to keep down the number , Balad, Ta’al and Ra’am parties. of Israeli Arabs turning out to vote,

The Rise and Fall of the Joint List finally delivering political stability and excluded not only Arab deputies but also In 2015 four Arab parties merged to form extreme right-wing Jewish parties. There- the Joint List in order to circumvent the after, the Centre-Left camp, which had 3.25 per cent barrier, which, introduced campaigned as the “anti-Bibi camp”, dis- the previous year, was targeted, above all, integrated; only some of its deputies had against them. After having dissolved itself wanted to belong to a coalition under temporarily for tactical reasons, the alliance Netanyahu. As a result, the new govern- re-emerged for the election to the 22nd ment remained unstable. Knesset in September 2019 so that its com- For his part, the head of the Joint List, bined strength could be used to exercise of the Hadash party, lost more influence over Arab issues. It re- credibility, having failed with his strategy mained intact for the election to the 23rd of putting the entire political weight of the Knesset in 2020. Arab parties at the disposal of the “anti-Bibi The Arab parties’ harsh rejection by camp” in the hope of achieving political the Jewish parties and their concentrated concessions in the future. It is true that the presence in the Joint List had the effect of strong performance of the Arab List was gradually mobilizing the Arab Israelis, who one of the reasons why, in the last three traditionally have remained aloof from elections (in 2019 and 2020), Netanyahu did national elections. Turnout among this seg- not obtain a majority for a purely right- ment of the population stood at 63.4 per wing government; but, other than this, the cent in 2015 (20th Knesset) and 59.2 per List was unable to reap any benefits from cent in 2019 (22th Knesset), which gave the its record number of seats. alliance 13 mandates on each occasion. In 2020 (23rd Knesset), it peaked at 64.8 per cent, whereby the Arab List became the Competing for Arab Votes largest opposition party in the parliament with 15 mandates. This new-found strength Because the Joint List remained excluded meant that Arab parties – and thus Arab from any decision-making processes and votes – were increasingly perceived as had no possibility to exercise any influence, having political relevance. For its part, the there was growing discontent over the Arab List hoped that one day it would be course being pursued by Odeh. For its part, able to cast off the role of outsider. the Islamic Movement (Ra’am) began to After the last election, in 2020, the Arab split away from the alliance – a develop- parliamentary deputies used their new situa- ment that was expedited by Netanyahu’s tion to publicly throw their unanimous sudden change of course. Faced with a col- support behind a Jewish candidate – the lapsing government coalition, the prime first time they had done so since 1992 when minister found himself looking for new won the elections. The Arab allies. On several occasions, he was able to parties backed so that he would reach agreement on tacit cooperation with be the first to conduct coalition talks. Their Mansour Abbas, the head of the Islamic hope was that Netanyahu would be replaced Movement. For example, in early December as prime minister. 2020 parliamentary deputies from this party However, although Gantz was able to absented themselves during voting on the strengthen his negotiating position with dissolution of the Knesset in order not to the help of Arab votes, he distanced himself have to vote with other deputies from the from the Joint List and broke his promise Joint List for the resignation of the Netan- not to join a coalition government led by yahu government. Moreover, Abbas pre- Netanyahu. The so-called national unity vented the role played by the prime minis- government formed by Zionist parties from ter in the submarine corruption affair from the Right to the Centre-Left was aimed at being investigated.

SWP Comment 18 March 2021

2 After the Knesset had been dissolved in a left-wing Zionist party, has December 2020 and new elections sched- introduced three Arab candidates in fourth, uled for March 2021, Netanyahu launched fifth and ninth positions on the new party his election campaign by visiting several list with which it launched its election Arab cities. They included , Israel’s campaign. In fifth and fourth positions are largest Arab city, where he received a cere- , who has already represented monial welcome from Mayor Ali Salam. For Meretz in the Knesset once, and Ghaida the first time in its history, Netanyahu’s Rinawie Zoabi, the co-founder and former party, Likud, is fielding a Muslim Arab as a director of the Injaz non-governmental candidate in the upcoming election: Nail organization, which advocates the pro- Zoabi is slated to hold a ministerial post for fessionalization of Arab local politics. The Arab affairs in a future Netanyahu govern- order of the candidates on this list is note- ment. Although he ranks only 39th on the worthy as Meretz has never nominated party’s list of candidates, Netanyahu has more than one Arab candidate for the top promised he will enter the parliament in positions. Under the leadership of former the event that Likud forms the new coali- General , it focused entirely tion. The means to this end is the so-called during the last elections (in March 2020) , which allows future minis- on the potential left-wing Zionist Jewish ters to give up their parliamentary seats in electorate and declined to run any Arab favour of others. candidates. Netanyahu’s radical turnaround is to be The (Avoda) is pursuing a explained, above all, by the possibility of similar course. After having participated in his political survival being secured by Arab the government of national unity through votes. Amid dwindling support within the several deputies and even provided two ranks of Likud after a group led by his long- ministers, it has chosen the direct opposite time associate Gideon Saar split away and approach for the upcoming election under because of the ongoing corruption trials, the new leadership of . With the prime minister is politically weakened. the Muslim film director Ibtisam Mara‘ana At the same time, the split in the Arab List and Amir Khniffes, a member of the Druze serves his strategic goals: if the Islamic Move- religious community, it is fielding two Arab ment makes it into the Knesset, he can candidates in seventh and fifteenth place. hope to enjoy its backing; if it does not, the These rankings do not offer very good pros- right-wing bloc of his supporters will be pects of entering the parliament, while strengthened since the Arab List is likely to Mara‘ana was almost disqualified from lose some mandates. According to the latest running in the election over anti-Zionist polls, it will have only nine or ten seats. comments. Nevertheless, the line-up has The prime minister’s rapprochement a symbolic significance that is crucial for with Israeli Arabs has rapidly changed the expanding the party’s electorate and under- way in which other Jewish parties are deal- scores the party’s renewed overtly left-wing ing with this group. In the run-up to the stance. Both Meretz and Avoda hope to March 2021 national elections, political make it into the Knesset with their choice actors from the Left to the Right can be seen of candidates, after having had to join competing for the Arab vote. forces with other parties in the previous After three ballots in quick succession, a two elections. number of Jewish parties are politically and A rapprochement with Arab voters is ideologically spent and are afraid they will also under way in the centre of the political not make it into the Knesset. They are de- spectrum. , the head of Yesh , pendent on expanding their electorate in which surveys rank as the second strongest order to win enough votes. The idea is that party after Likud, is seen as the involvement with Arab politicians would of the “anti-Bibi bloc” of the Left and the open up the Arab electorate to them. Centre for the upcoming election. Lapid,

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3 who until now has kept his distance from with a weak opposition that has no chance Arab politicians and made disparaging of gaining power. Although the Arab List comments about them, has said he does and the Left have fundamentally the same not rule out a coalition with Arab parties. view of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, the issue seems to be losing political relevance for Israeli society as a whole and for large The Arab Discourse: Between parts of the Arab population. A survey car- Ideology and Pragmatism ried out in December 2020 showed that the conflict ranks only seventh among the That the Jewish parties are now showing an issues that are important for Arab Israelis, interest in Arab voters is not the only new while the top six concerns of this group are development. There is also a growing desire all related to their immediate living situa- among the Arab population for political tion. Occupying first place by a wide mar- integration and participation, although gin is the problem of crime and violence the picture is somewhat mixed. Until now, in Arab towns and villages: in 2020 alone, the Arab population has been represented more than 100 murders were recorded mainly by the Joint List, which, however, there – a new high in the level of violence. comprises actors of different political hues: Other crucial issues are improving the eco- communists, moderate and more radical nomic situation, the regulation of planning nationalists and, until recently, Islamists. and building, and integration into the Israeli Points of friction have emerged within labour market. these parties. For example, in the summer Amid declining popular concern about of 2020, the List threatened to break up the Palestinian issue, the views of many over a vote on LGBT rights. And there was Arab Israelis and their political represen- also discord over whether the alliance tatives in the Knesset are drifting apart. should pragmatically adapt to the political While representatives of the Joint List, for circumstances. Because the Islamic Move- example, unanimously condemned the nor- ment wanted to cooperate with right-wing malization of relations between Arab states Jewish parties, it took the decision to leave such as the United Arab Emirates and Bah- the Joint List. rain, on the one hand, and Israel on the The three remaining parties in the Joint other, the majority of the Arab population List – Hadash, Balad and Ta’al – continue (61.8 per cent) sees this development as posi- to act, above all, along traditional ideology- tive. The reasons include the new tourist based political lines. They emphasize the and economic opportunities that had been affiliation between the Israeli Arabs and the opened up for Israeli Arabs as well as for Palestinian nation. Moreover, they regard all other Israeli citizens. Only 35.5 per cent the political struggle to secure democratic reject normalization because they believe rights in the state of Israel as directly linked it could disadvantage the peace process. to the settlement of the Israeli-Palestinian Moreover, the very real concerns of Arab conflict. They reject the state of Israel’s self- Israeli voters – such as security and eco- designation as “Jewish and democratic” and nomic prosperity – do not seem to have advocate a full-fledged Arab-Palestinian iden- received enough attention, judging at least tity in a state of equal citizens. While these from public comments by the Joint List. principles serve as a common denominator Satisfaction with the party alliance has for different ideological starting points, they decreased in recent years. What has become cannot be enforced within Israeli politics. important for Israeli Arabs is the imple- Furthermore, the influence of the Israeli mentation of measures to improve their Left has been dwindling for a long time. living situation. The majority of the popu- Thus, if the Arab List were to continue to lation believes that the Arab List has not work together with the Left over the next made any significant contributions in this few years, it would likely mean cooperating area. That is why the number of non-voters

SWP Comment 18 March 2021

4 in the Arab community appears to be grow- tiating with the Israeli government. Her ing again. In particular, it is the hopes of political demands are anchored in a civil young Arab Israelis that have been dashed, discourse according to which the Arab as a February 2021 survey showed. Above population is entitled to equal rights on the all, the younger generation wants to be grounds of having equal democratic Israeli involved in political decision-making; and, citizenship. By this, she means not only the in this respect, it is becoming more and equalization of living conditions but also more like its Jewish counterpart. The social the right to have a say in politics. In an integration now under way runs counter interview with the Israeli daily newspa- to the isolationism of Arab politics to date. per The Marker, she said: “Today there is a The young Israeli Arabs of today are well young Arab generation that sees itself on educated and represented in almost every equal terms with Jews and demands equal profession. They play a much more visible citizenship. People [...] want to influence role in public than their parents and grand- [not only] what happens in [the Arab towns parents and display a new political self- of] Umm Al-Fahm and but also the confidence. They want to use the available decision-making processes in the state of democratic opportunities to increase the Israel as a whole.” political weight they carry in the state. Similarly, the political demands of Man- During the current election campaign, this sour Abbas, the head of the Islamic Move- trend is morphing into a new direction in ment (Ra’am), which was part of the Joint Arab-Israeli politics. List in the Knesset until the end of January 2021, no longer have to do explicitly with the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, but rather with everyday life. Abbas cultivates real- The New Type of Arab Politician politik rhetoric. On the pro-government television channel Arutz 20, he defended Some of those Arab politicians with whom his new course in a speech that urged the Jewish parties are engaging ahead of the Israeli Arabs to be “pragmatic and no longer upcoming election represent the shift from nationalist.” In this way, he hopes to gain ideological to pragmatic politics and stronger support from the Israeli Right for local political integration. The common destiny issues such as the fight against organized of the Palestinians and the Jewish identity crime and violence in Arab towns and of the state are no longer fundamental to villages. On 1 March 2021, Netanyahu’s their political agenda. Rather, their focus government approved a budget of 150 mil- is on improving the immediate living con- lion NIS for this purpose. ditions of Arab Israelis. And their aim is to In the Israeli daily newspaper Ma‘ariv, achieve this from within, namely through Abbas explained that his new course in- cooperation with Israeli institutions and volves not an ideological but a strategic the Jewish political establishment. change. He himself belongs neither to the An example of such a politician is Ghaida Left nor the Right, he said, but is merely Rinawie Zoabi, an Arab candidate of the being pragmatic in the face of a right-wing left-wing Zionist party Meretz. While she government that is likely to remain in frequently refers to her Palestinian identity, power. At the same time, Abbas points out her focus is on domestic issues. By her own that as regards close collaboration with the admission, her political agenda is to raise Right, there is common ground on socio- the status of Arab women, improve the cultural issues between the Jewish religious quality of Arab local administration, estab- right wing and the religious and conserva- lish distributive justice and address the tive Arab politicians of the Islamic Move- issues of construction, social assistance, as ment and their voters. well as education and development. Rinawie While Rinawie Zoabi’s programme could Zoabi has decades-long experience in nego- inspire young and urban voters, the Islamic

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5 Movement under Abbas wants to win over At this level, Jewish-Arab cooperation func- disconnected Arab groups, including the tions across the various political camps of the Negev. On the one hand, because ideologically divisive issues such as this group belongs to the conservative elec- the Israeli-Palestinian conflict are excluded torate; on the other, they have long been from the agenda. frustrated by the desolate state of their villages and what they perceive as the lack of action on the part of the Arab List. Local politics lead the way The political analyst Mohammad Darawshe, who in January introduced his As elsewhere in the world, local politics newly founded Arab-Israeli party Ma‘an, is in Israel are characterized by the virtual another embodiment of the new type of absence of ideology. In contrast with Arab politician. Ma‘an means “together” in national politics, there is no coupling of and alludes to the partnership and issues to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict or coexistence of Jews and Arabs. From the questions of state identity. Not even the outset, Darawshe has made it clear that his Nation-State Law – which, passed just a party recognizes Israel as a “Jewish state”. few months before the 2018 local elections, However, while he has confirmed his ob- established Israel as the nation-state of the vious interest in a peaceful solution to the Jewish people – was a subject for discus- Israeli-Palestinian conflict, he has explained sion during campaigning in the Arab sector. that – unlike the parties of the Joint List – Local politics in the Arab communities Ma‘an will devote itself entirely to domestic are concerned mainly with the domestic Israeli issues rather than pursuing an “ideolo- issues that affect this segment of the popu- gized” regional and foreign policy. lation. These are the same issues on which There are strategic advantages to this Arab politicians such as Rinawie Zoabi, new direction in Arab politics. In contrast Abbas and Darawshe are focused at the with Arab candidates who strongly em- national level. They, too, are pursuing not phasize their affiliation with the other an agenda for society as a whole but an party to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict and Arab-Israeli agenda. They want to see real who stand in opposition to the state, the improvements in the living conditions of new-style Arab politicians identify them- Arab Israelis. The most pressing issues are selves, first and foremost, as Israeli citizens security, housing, education and urban and their agenda is compatible with that of infrastructure, all of which are typical areas other actors in the Israeli political system. of local politics. They are more easily accepted as partners Just as the practical focus is not new, not only by Jewish parties but also by the so the basis for argument is familiar, too. Jewish majority. They themselves hope that Local politicians understand that emphasiz- their new rhetoric and purely domestic ing equal Israeli citizenship for Jews and Israeli agenda will improve their chances of Arabs is the most reasonable strategy to exercising political influence and becoming improve their own negotiating position vis- close to decision-making. At the same time, à-vis state institutions. The pragmatic and they are signalling a willingness to assume targeted approach of Arab local politicians responsibility. Thanks to this approach, is to point out how Arab citizens are materi- two concerns of the Arab-Israelis are being ally disadvantaged compared with their addressed at once – namely, their growing Jewish counterparts and to underscore the desire for political integration and their state’s interest in doing away with this demand that more attention be paid to imbalance in the long run. For example, their concrete problems. in 2015, following intensive negotiations That the new Arab political approach can between Arab actors, including Rinawie be successful in the longer term is shown Zoabi, and the Israeli government, a five- by the experience gained in local politics. year plan for the economic development

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6 of Arab municipalities was adopted. Its aim politics, Jews and Arabs can focus on issues was to redistribute state funding so that in which they have a common interest and the amount received by Arab municipalities which do not polarize. was proportional to the 20 per cent share This practice could serve as a model for of Arab Israelis in the overall population. national politics, especially if there are ben- The plan provided for a budget of up to 15 efits for both sides. For Arab local politi- billion NIS and was extended for another cians, the advantages of cooperation out- year in the autumn of 2020. weigh the disadvantages, as they gain better At the same time, local politics show that access to the budget and are therefore able Arab Israelis are very keen to make use of to act more effectively on behalf of their the political means at their disposal. While constituents. However, in mixed Jewish- their participation in national elections is Arab cities, the chances of electing an Arab still below the average for the population as mayor are virtually nil. For this reason, a whole, turnout in local elections in Arab Arab politicians often have no choice but to towns and villages is much higher than in cooperate in order to ensure that the Arab Jewish municipalities: an average of 85 per population receives roughly as much fund- cent compared with just 61 per cent in ing as the Jewish population. Bearing this 2018. If, in future, national politics were to in mind could also be relevant in the pay as much substantive attention to the Knesset, where there is a similar power needs of Arab Israelis, voter turnout among constellation. this segment could increase at the national For Jewish coalition partners, too, there level, too. are pragmatic reasons for the involvement of Arab parties. It makes sense to involve as many parliamentary deputies with the Arab-Jewish Cooperation same local political goals as possible for the sake of more effective government. While it is true that since the state of Israel However, increased cooperation between came into existence, Arab parties have never Jewish and Arab local politicians does not participated in government, coalitions of necessarily mean that the two sides are Jewish and Arab parties can be found in becoming closer ideologically. This cannot local politics. Joint administrations exist in be expected to happen at the national level, large mixed cities such as -Jaffa and too. Rather, it is easier to smooth over ideo- , the mayors of which belong to the logical differences at both the local and traditionally centre-left Labour Party. At national levels when pragmatic actors work the same time, the number of Jewish-Arab together. administrations has grown in cities where In local politics, the quality of coopera- the mayors are from right-wing nationalist tion varies from place to place depending Jewish parties such as Likud and the Rus- on the respective politicians and political sian-speaking party Ysrael Beitenu. Since circumstances. On the one hand, Arab the 2018 local elections, more Jewish-Arab politicians hold high office in many of the administrations have emerged – a surprise cities where there is Jewish-Arab coopera- result of that ballot. They include such tion: Acre, Ma‘alot Tarshiha and Nof diverse mixed towns as Acre, , , HaGalil, among others, have an Arab deputy Nof HaGalil and Ma‘alot Tarshiha. Besides mayor. On the other hand, coexistence demography, it is, above all, common inter- between Jews and Arabs continues to be ests that speak in favour of this new co- marked by conflict, as, for example, in the operation. city of Lod, whose mayor, Yair Revivo, has Municipal affairs such as the funding of often attracted attention for his anti-Arab housing construction, road transport and remarks. But given the segregation of the sports and recreation facilities affect all two groups – even in mixed cities, they groups of the population equally. In local live in different neighbourhoods – any

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7 cooperation is to be regarded as positive. And that remains the case even if working together is pragmatically justified and says little about the actual relationship between the two groups.

Outlook

For the first time ever at the national level, © Stiftung Wissenschaft it is possible to observe, in this election cam- und Politik, 2021 paign, a process that has long been taking All rights reserved place both at the local level and in the Arab discourse. Arab-Israeli politics are becoming This Comment reflects diversified, and this has the potential to the author’s views. change the overall political landscape in The online version of the longer term. Alongside the traditional this publication contains politics of the Joint List, which focuses on functioning links to other disputes within society, there are Arab poli- SWP texts and other relevant ticians coming to the fore who put more sources. emphasis on substantive issues. By doing SWP Comments are subject so, they are following the growing wishes to internal peer review, fact- of those parts of the Arab-Israeli population checking and copy-editing. that want greater political participation and For further information on an active politics that serves the concrete our quality control pro- interests of Israeli Arabs – above all, im- cedures, please visit the SWP website: https://www.swp- proved security and better living conditions. berlin.org/en/about-swp/ While it is likely that in the upcoming quality-management-for- election, many Arab Israelis will remain swp-publications/ loyal to the shrunken Joint List and political isolationism, it is already possible to speak SWP of a gradual “normalization”. This mani- Stiftung Wissenschaft und Politik fests itself in Israeli Arabs wanting to inte- German Institute for grate more fully into the state and thereby International and prevent their interests as Israeli citizens Security Affairs being overshadowed by an overarching Pal- estinian identity and solidarity with Pales- Ludwigkirchplatz 3–4 10719 Berlin tinians in the Middle East conflict. At the Telephone +49 30 880 07-0 same time, Zionist parties are making efforts Fax +49 30 880 07-100 not seen before and at times unimaginable www.swp-berlin.org to win Arab votes for themselves or even to [email protected] cooperate with Arab parties.

ISSN (Print) 1861-1761 The forthcoming election will show just ISSN (Online) 2747-5107 how successful these first steps towards doi: 10.18449/2021C18 normalization might be. The willingness to engage in this process is now evident both Translation by Jan Cleave in Israeli politics and among the population.

(English version of SWP-Aktuell 21/2021) Lidia Averbukh is a Research Associate for the project “Israel and its regional and global conflicts: Domestic developments, security issues and foreign affairs”. The project is part of SWP’s Middle East and Africa Research Division and is funded by the German Foreign Office. SWP Comment 18 March 2021

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