February 16, 2014 Table of Contents From the Editor’s Desk ............................................................................ 2 Editorials .................................................................................................... 5 Nohad Ali / The Significance of the Islamic Movement’s Abstention in Israel’s Municipal Elections ................................................................................................... 5 Ziyad Abu Habla / The Arab Local Governments in Israel: Moving Toward Economic Independence ............................................................................................ 9 Nadia Hilou / Reflections on the Results of the Local Elections in Jaffa ................ 13 The major issues in the local election campaign .................................. 16 General summary of the election campaign ............................................................. 16 The role of clans and clan-based affiliations in municipal politics ......................... 19 The election campaign in Nazareth .......................................................................... 20 The Islamic Movement after the local elections ...................................................... 21 Mixed cities: Success in Upper Nazareth, failure in Jaffa ....................................... 22 Results of the 2013 elections ................................................................... 23 Election results in Arab and Druze localities ........................................................... 23 The Galilee and Northern Region ................................................................................................. 23 The Triangle region ....................................................................................................................... 26 Jerusalem region ........................................................................................................................... 26 The Negev region .......................................................................................................................... 27 Achievements of Arab candidates elections in the mixed cities .............................. 28 Achievements of Hadash, Balad, and the Islamic Movement ................................. 28 Elections for head of the local councils ........................................................................................ 28 Elections for local councils ........................................................................................................... 29 The Islamic Movement in the Local Elections: Campaigns and Results ................. 30 -2- From the Editor’s Desk We are pleased to publish an issue in the Arabs in Israel Update series, summarizing the results of the municipal elections in Arab and Druze localities, which were held on October 22 (first round) and November 5 (second round), 2013. The publication of this issue follows a conference on the Arab local governments in Israel and the results of the local elections, organized by the Konrad Adenauer Program for Jewish-Arab Cooperation in November 21, 2013. The time that elapsed since the elections affords some perspective as we examine the results. In retrospect, the recent election campaign does not signal a change in political voting patterns in the Arab municipal arena. One indication of the lack of change is the fact that 25 of the 73 Arab localities (one-third, similar to previous elections in 2008), held a second election round after an inconclusive result regarding the candidate elected to head the local government. As in the past, most of the localities in Israel that held a second round in the recent elections were Arab localities (25 of the 38 localities that held a second round, or 66%). These statistics point to the extent of political division that is typical of most Arab localities, and impedes a conclusive outcome in local government elections (see the statistics and analysis in the final section of the current issue). Another reflection of the stability of the largely patriarchic voting patterns in Arab municipal politics is the negligible representation of Arab women in local Arab politics: Only eight women were elected as local council members (four in Nazareth, one in Sakhnin, and one in Eylabun, in addition to two in the mixed cities of Acre and Haifa). Although these figures represent an increase from the 2008 elections (when a total of six women were elected council members, mixed cities included), the percentage of women elected as council members in Arab localities remains negligible, at less than 1%. Despite the buzz on this issue before the elections, and although more Arab women than ever stood in realistic slots, the outcome does not herald a substantial change. One of the main conclusions reached by several Arab intellectuals and scholars, in their discussions of the local election results in Arab localities, was that family and sectarian circles of belonging continue to play a dominant role in municipal Arab politics, while the power of political parties has diminished. In the attempt to explain this point, many commentators have directed their criticism at Arab body politic’s internal ailments: Not only have Arabs failed to discard familial voting patterns, it seems to have become even more deeply entangled in them. Criticism was also directed at state institutions, which were accused of intentionally turning a blind eye to offensive practices in Arab localities during the elections, and taking insufficient action to eradicate them. The time that elapsed since the elections has made it possible for us to collect the official statistics published by Israel’s Ministry of Interior and Ministry of Justice, as well as data generously provided to us by the Hadash (Democratic Front for Peace and Equality) and Balad (National Democratic Alliance) political parties and members of the Islamic Movement. In most localities where they competed, Hadash November 2013 Local Government Elections 16.02.14 -3- and Balad competed independently in the elections, although in several localities such as Umm al-Fahm, they joined forced with local political elements and presented a joint list for the local councils. A unique collaboration between the two parties developed in Rameh, where the joint list won two seats on the local council (one for each party). All in all, 60 Hadash representatives (including three in mixed cities), and 24 Balad representatives (including five in mixed cities) were elected to local councils. Compared to the previous 2008 elections, Hadash and Balad retained their political power in the local councils.. Nonetheless, compared to the previous elections, when six Hadash candidates were elected to head local councils, only two were elected to this position in the 2013 elections, in Iksal and in Yafia’. At the time of publication of this issue, the election results for the position of mayor of Nazareth await a final legal ruling, and therefore it is too early to determine whether Hadash managed to maintain its four-decade-long dominance in Nazareth municipal politics. Balad, in contrast, boasted that the candidates that it directly supported in several localities, including Umm al-Fahm, Tira, Sakhnin, ‘Arabeh, and Shefar‘am, were elected as heads of the local councils. However, these winners were not official Balad candidates; they headed their own independent lists. Therefore, in summary, no Balad representative was elected head of a local council in the 2013 elections. An interesting picture emerges regarding the Islamic Movement. Similar to the previous elections in 2008, the Movement’s stronghold was the Bedouin localities in the Negev, where its candidates were elected in three of the seven localities that held elections. The Movement also competed successfully in the mixed cities of Ramleh and Lydda. Still, the Movement’s popularity declined in the Galilee and northern regions as well as the central region (“the Triangle”). Not only the statistics, but also the Islamic Movement’s strategy in the recent local elections point to the Movement’s relative decline. In eight of the 16 localities in which the Movement presented candidates for election, the Movement set up alliances with local political lists rather than compete independently. This strategy raises the following question: After claiming for many years that it has transcended family-based and clan-based affiliations , was the Islamic Movement swayed by these elements and consequently became immersed in clan politics? Moreover, in light of the Movement’s Northern Faction abstaining from participating in the 2013 local elections, are we are now standing at a turning point at which the Islamist stream in Israel is gradually relinquishing the political dimension of its operations (at least in municipal politics) and withdrawing into itself for a reassessment of the situation? This issue reviews the major issues that concern the Arab public in Israel in response to the announcement of the final election results. In this issue’s lead editorial, Nohad Ali analyzes the implications of the Islamic Movement’s decision not to participate in the recent electoral campaign in Umm al-Fahm. In the two essays that follow, Ziad Abu Habla addresses the fundamental question on how to improve the economic situation of the local Arab governments, while Nadia Hilo focuses on the results of the elections for the Tel Aviv-Jaffa city council, in which the city’s Arab residents conspicuously lacked any representation. These

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