Arab Alliance Rises as Force in Israeli Elections

[Purveyor]

By DIAA HADIDMARCH 15, 2015

IBILLIN, Israel — Avigdor Lieberman, Israel’s nationalist foreign minister, stared coolly at the Arab politician sitting at the opposite end of a glass table during a televised election debate.

“Why did you come to this studio, why not to Gaza, or Ramallah? Why are you even here?” asked Mr. Lieberman, who frequently calls Israel’s Arab citizens traitors and suggests that their towns be transferred to Palestinian control. “You are not wanted here; you are a Palestinian citizen.”

The politician, Ayman Odeh, the leader of an alliance of Arab parties formed to contest Israeli elections on Tuesday, appeared unruffled.

“I am very welcome in my homeland,” he said, a subtle dig at Mr. Lieberman, an immigrant from the former Soviet republic of Moldova. “I am part of the nature, the surroundings, the landscape,” he said in Arabic-accented Hebrew.

more...

http://www.nytimes.com/2015/03/16/world/middleeast/ayman-odeh-arab-alliance-rises-as-force-in-israel-vote.html

[Scootaloo]

1. They can come in third and still get shut out

'Cause no government in Israel's history has ever included Arab parties. And a labor-led "Zionist union" isn't likely to be the first to do so. Israel's "Liberal" politicians would rather cede power to the right than invite Arabs to a ruling coalition.

[villager]

2. The Islamic fundamentalists in the Arab Alliance also nixed a deal with Israeli liberals

...afraid, perhaps, their own voters would reject any partnership with the word "Zionist" in it.

Good article about it in the latest Tikkun by Uri Avnery, a former General who now advocates, speaks, and votes for peace. It made him wonder if the Arab Alliance might not also be bedeviled in a way similar to many Israeli coalitions, with some faction politically unable to accept peace....

[Scootaloo]

3. Did they now?

Which Islamic Fundamentalists would these be? In which party? And how did they achieve this as part of an alliance that didn't exist in the previous election?

[villager]

4. Here's the pertinent excerpt:

<snip>

The Arab list is composed of four vastly different parties: communist, Islamist and nationalist. It is a shotgun marriage, with Lieberman holding the gun: it was he who induced the Knesset to raise the minimum election threshold, in order to evict the small Arab parties from the Knesset. In response, the four small parties formed the big united list, which now holds third place in the polls after the two large parties.

The Arabs in Israel are second-class citizens, discriminated against and sometimes persecuted. What would be more humane for a progressive Jewish citizen than to vote for such a list?

For me that would be natural, since I was instrumental in creating in 1984 the first completely integrated Arab-Jewish election list ("the Progressive List for Peace&quot , which won two terms. (The communist party is almost completely Arab, with some Jewish members).

But the Joint List is problematic for me. A few days ago, they upset me with a fateful decision.

It concerns the "leftover" votes. Under our election law, two lists may make an agreement, under which the "leftover" votes of both will be pooled and turned over to one of them. ("Leftover" are votes remaining after the party has been allotted the seats for which it has the full number of votes.)

The Leftist parties devised a plan under which the Joint List was to pool its leftovers with those of Meretz. This might have given to one of them – and thus to the entire leftist bloc – one more seat, which may turn out to be crucial.

The Joint List refused, because Meretz is a Zionist party. The decision may have been logical, since many Arab voters could possibly abstain from voting if they feared that their vote might go to a Jewish "Zionist" list. But it showed that faced with any important decision, the Islamists of the Joint List might bloc a united decision for peace. I have a problem with that.

<snip>



So hopefully the Islamist wing brought into the list as a result of the new threshold won't act like the Israeli right, with an axiomatic rejection of peace.

But here's hoping Odeh will wind up with some political clout, and remain a transformational figure (even with all the personal risk that entails...)

[Scootaloo]

6. You linked the wrong article, just FYI

But I found it, and some auxillary ones. Thanks for the lead.

Here's the thing - signing such an agreement would still be no guarantee that the Joint List would become a part of the government. What could happen is that the people who vote for the Arab Joint List give a seat to Meretz, who then breaks threshold, and goes on it merry way to join government, while hte Arab parties are left in the dirt. Again.

I rather doubt it's the influence of the Islamist party (which has pretty much no influence, having never held a knesset seat) and more a case of paranoid pragmatism - the Arab parties have been exploited by the "left" before and as noted, have been shut out of governing since the nation's inception. They likely want to make a situation where they become the only choice if Israel's "left" is missing numbers for a coalition.

[villager]

7. Well, maybe. But we can't imagine their fundamentalists will somehow be more flexible than ours

...our Israel's.

Fundamentalists everywhere are the problem.

In any case, it'd be great if Odeh winds up as part of a new coalition, and I suppose we'll find out for sure in the next few days!

Thanks for the tip about the link -- will look into that now...

on edit: Hmm... same headline/author, but different piece than the one that was emailed, which I quoted...

Couldn't find the same piece on the website in a cursory search, but I have to head out now... may update later...

[Comrade Grumpy]

5. Lieberman is a racist shit heel. And he's the foreign minister of Israel.

I'd donate money to send him to Gaza.