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Will a New Jewish-Arab Party Run in the Coming Elections?

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By: Baruch Yedid

A new initiative, launched by former Members of Knesset Avraham Borg and Taleb A-Sana is developing into a new political party that will be led by the two, a Jew and an Arab.

Former Haifa Mayor Yonah Yahav, former MK Shlomo Mulah, of Ethiopian descent, and Muhammad Draushah, have joined the undertaking.

In an interview with TPS on Thursday, A-Sana said that the new political party describes itself as the party for Israel’s citizens, Jews and non-Jews, and its message is that it does not have a Jewish-Zionist or an Arab-Palestinian basis.

The majority of Israel’s political parties are Zionist. Many of these parties have incorporated Arab representatives. There are also several Arab political parties, which are not Zionist, and have incorporated a few Jews.

The new political party is focused on full partnership, which is expressed by its dual leadership, and the positioning of a Jew after an Arab and so on in the party’s list.

The party will promote civil discourse and full equality, as well as partnership, democracy and peace, a fair sharing of resources and a two-state diplomatic solution.

A-Sana told TPS that the Arab parties have voiced opposition to this initiative and charged it with “Israelization” and of abandoning the Arab and Palestinian identity.

However, A-Sana quoted polls conducted among Israel’s Arabs that show that 30% of them support the initiative while only 20% support the exiting Arab parties.

The party is now working to penetrate public awareness and garner support among the Israeli-Arab public. Some half a million potential voters in the Israeli-Arab community did not vote during the last elections and many others voted for left-wing parties.

The party stated it is seeking to collaborate with other political entities but sees no way it can join a government led by Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and his Likud party, as the Nation-State Law recently passed by the Likud supposedly negates the ideas their party espouses.

The nation-state law defines Israel as the Jewish state by law and enshrines its unique Jewish character.

Detractors of the law claimed it hindered the rights of Israel’s non-Jewish citizens.

However, after the passage of the law on July 2018, Netanyahu explained that “the State of Israel is the nation-state of the Jewish people, with full equal rights for all of its citizens. This is the meaning of the words ‘a Jewish and democratic state.’”     

(TPS)

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