[News] Chasing a mirage: How Israel Arab parties validate Israeli Apartheid

[Anti-Imperialist News]

middleeastmonitor.com
<https://www.middleeastmonitor.com/20221101-chasing-a-mirage-how-israel-arab-parties-validate-israeli-apartheid/>
Chasing a mirage: How Israel Arab parties validate Israeli Apartheid
Dr Ramzy Barou - November 1, 2022
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[image: image.png]

Regardless of the outcome of the latest Israeli elections, Arab parties
will not reap meaningful political benefits, even if they collectively
achieve their highest representation ever. The reason is not about the
parties themselves, but in Israel's skewed political system which is
predicated on racism and marginalisation of non-Jews.

Israel was established on a problematic premise of being a homeland of all
Jews, everywhere – not of Palestine's own native inhabitants – and on a
bloody foundation, that of the Nakba and the destruction of historic
Palestine and the expulsion of its people.

Such beginnings were hardly conducive to the establishment of a real
democracy, perfect or blemished. Not only did Israel's discriminatory
attitude persist throughout the years, it actually worsened, especially as
the Palestinian Arab population rose disproportionally compared to the
Jewish population between the Jordan River and the Mediterranean Sea.

The unfortunate reality is that some Arab parties have participated
<https://www.jstor.org/stable/4323198> in Israeli elections since 1949,
some independently and others under the ruling Mapei party umbrella. They
did so despite Arab communities in Israel being ruled by a military
government (1951-1966) and practically governed, until this day, by the
unlawful 'Defence (Emergency Regulations)'. This participation has
constantly been touted by Israel and its supporters as proof of the State's
democratic nature.

This claim alone has served as the backbone of Israeli *hasbara* throughout
the decades. Though often unwittingly, Arab political parties in Israel
have provided the fodder for such propaganda, making it difficult for
Palestinians to argue that the Israeli political system is fundamentally
flawed and racist.

*OPINION: Will elections end Israel's political deadlock?
<https://www.middleeastmonitor.com/20221031-will-elections-end-israels-political-deadlock/>*

Palestinian citizens have always debated among themselves about the pros
and cons of taking part in Israeli elections. Some understood that their
participation validates the Zionist ideology and Israeli apartheid, while
others argued that refraining from participating in the political process
denies Palestinians the opportunity to change the system from within.

The latter argument has lost much of its merit, as Israel sank deeper into
apartheid, while social, political and legal conditions for Palestinians
worsened. The Legal Centre for Arab Minority Rights in Israel (Adalah)
reports <https://www.adalah.org/en/law/index> on dozens of discriminatory
laws in Israel that exclusively target Arab communities. Additionally, in a
report published in February, Amnesty International describes
<https://www.amnesty.org/en/latest/campaigns/2022/02/israels-system-of-apartheid/>
thoroughly how the "representation of Palestinian citizens of Israel in the
decision making process … has been restricted and undermined by an array of
Israeli laws and policies."

This reality has existed for decades, long before 19 July, 2018, when the
Israeli parliament approved <https://www.adalah.org/en/content/view/9569>
the so-called Jewish Nation-State Basic Law. The Law was the most glaring
example of political and legal racism, which made Israel a full-fledged
apartheid regime.

[image: Israel: fifth election likely to result in political deadlock -
Cartoon [Sabaaneh/Middle East Monitor]]

Israel: fifth election likely to result in political deadlock – Cartoon
[Sabaaneh/Middle East Monitor]

The Law was also the most articulate proclamation of Jewish supremacy over
Palestinians in all aspects of life, including the right to
self-determination.

Those who have argued that Arab participation in Israeli politics served a
purpose in the past should have done more than collectively denounce the
Nation-State Law, by resigning en masse, effective immediately. They should
have taken advantage of the international uproar to convert their struggle
from a parliamentary to a popular grassroots one.

Alas, they have not. They continued to participate in Israeli elections,
arguing that if they achieved greater representation in the Israeli
Knesset, they should be able to challenge the tsunami of Israeli
discriminatory laws.

This did not happen, even after the Joint List, which unified
<https://ecfr.eu/special/mapping_palestinian_politics/joint_list/> four
Arab parties in the March 2020 elections, achieved its greatest turnout
ever, becoming the Knesset's third largest political bloc.

The supposed historic victory culminated to nil because all mainstream
Jewish parties, regardless of their ideological backgrounds, refused to
include Arab parties in their potential coalitions.

The enthusiasm that mobilised Arab voters behind the Joint List began to
dwindle, and the List itself fragmented, thanks to Mansour Abbas, the head
of the Arab party, Ra'am.

In the March 2021 elections, Abbas wanted to change the dynamics of Arab
politics in Israel altogether. "We focus on the issues and problems of the
Arab citizens of Israel within the Green Line," Abbas told
<https://time.com/6073019/mansour-abbas-arab-israel-coalition-government/>
TIME magazine in June 2021, adding "we want to heal our own problems" as if
declaring a historic delink from the rest of the Palestinian struggle.

Abbas was wrong, as Israel perceives him, his followers, the Joint List and
all Palestinians to be obstacles in its efforts to maintain the exclusivist
'Jewish identity of the State. The Abbas experiment, however, became even
more interesting, when Ra'am won 4 seats and joined a government coalition
led by far-right, anti-Palestinian politician, Naftali Bennet.

By the time the coalition collapsed in June, Abbas achieved little
<https://www.timesofisrael.com/vote-or-dont-vote-its-the-same-arab-israelis-despondent-ahead-of-5th-elections/>,
aside from splitting the Arab vote and proving, again, that changing
Israeli politics from within has always been a fantasy.

Even after all of this, Arab parties in Israel still insisted on
participating in a political system that, despite its numerous
contradictions, agreed on one thing: Palestinians are, and will always be,
the enemy.

*OPINION: Israel election tightly poised as Netanyahu bids for comeback
<https://www.middleeastmonitor.com/20221101-israel-election-tightly-poised-as-netanyahu-bids-for-comeback/>*

Even the violent events of May 2021, where Palestinians found themselves
fighting on multiple fronts – against the Israeli army, police,
intelligence services, armed settlers and even ordinary citizens – did not
seem to change the Arab politicians' mindset. Arab population centres in
Umm Al-Fahm, Lydda and Jaffa, were attacked
<https://jcpa.org/an-in-depth-analysis-of-the-forces-driving-the-israeli-arab-riots-of-may-2021/>
with the same racist mentality as Gaza and Sheikh Jarrah, illustrating that
nearly 75 years of supposed integration between Jews and Arabs under
Israel's political system hardly changed the racist view towards
Palestinians.

Instead of converting the energy of what Palestinians dubbed the 'Unity
Intifada' to invest in Palestinian unity, Arab Israeli politicians returned
to the Israeli Knesset, as if they still had hope in salvaging Israel's
inherently corrupt political system.

The self-delusion continues. On 29 September, Israel's Central Election
Committee disqualified
<https://www.middleeastmonitor.com/20221010-israel-supreme-court-overturns-ban-on-arab-party-running-in-elections/>
an Arab party, Balad, from running in the November elections. The decision
was eventually overturned by the country's Supreme Court, urging an Arab
legal organisation in Israel to describe the decision as 'historic'. In
essence, they suggested that Israel's apartheid system still carries the
hope of true democracy.

The future of Arab politics in Israel will remain grim if Arab politicians
continue to pursue this failed tactic. Though Palestinian citizens of
Israel are socio-economically privileged if compared to Palestinians in the
Occupied Territories, they enjoy nominal or no substantive political or
legal rights. By remaining loyal participants in Israel's democracy
charade, these politicians continue to validate the Israeli establishment,
thus harming, not only Palestinian communities in Israel but, in fact,
Palestinians everywhere.

The views expressed in this article belong to the author and do not
necessarily reflect the editorial policy of Middle East Monitor.
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