‘Right-wing or Palestine’ will only perpetuate Israel’s deadlock
Last Tuesday’s parliamentary election in Israel has confirmed an all too familiar stalemate: neither the outgoing coalition nor the opposition is able to form a new government. However, in a somehow ironic twist of history, it is precisely Israel’s Arab minority that – even more than before October 7, 2023 – is key in restoring the country’s social and political fabric and relaunching Israeli-Palestinian reconciliation at the same time.
The strong showing by the two Arab-Israeli electoral lists – 19 out of 120 seats – comes as little surprise. Arab Israelis, who live within Israel’s internationally recognized borders and, unlike Palestinians in the disputed territories, enjoy full civil rights, have suffered greatly over the past four years from the outgoing government’s failure to tackle violence and crime within their communities, as well as from the demolition of thousands of Bedouin homes and other structures allegedly built without permits.
On the Jewish-Israeli side, the parties – some of which also included Arab candidates on their lists – are divided between Benjamin Netanyahu’s governing bloc and a rather incohesive opposition centered around Gadi Eizenkot. Neither in the run-up to the election nor in their initial reactions have any of these parties, with the exception of the centre-left Democrats, opened the door to the Arab parties joining a government or even providing it with outside support. On the contrary, Arab-Israeli politicians are routinely dismissed as “anti-Zionist” or enemies of the state.
To an outsider, some of this may seem incomprehensible. The fundamental issue is that, since the establishment of Israel in 1948 – and indeed since Jewish immigration to the region began in the late nineteenth century – no satisfactory and effective answer has ever been found to the question of how Arab and Jewish inhabitants can live together or alongside one another. Both communities have experienced horrific suffering. Within Israel, which has gained the military upper hand and repeatedly faced pivotal political choices, there persists an often unspoken and almost inexplicable fear that Arab forces within the country, in the Palestinian territories and across the wider region will ultimately bring about Israel’s demise.
Nevertheless, even if a large majority of Jewish Israelis seem blind to it, a dialogue with Arab Israelis and with Palestinians in the territories is in their own interest. Many of Israel’s most contentious domestic issues are, after all, closely intertwined with the Israeli-Palestinian question. This is not only true for the “security” campaigning that traditionally leads to a strong Likud-led camp, but also for the increasing hold the latter has tried to exert over politics and society, notably through the 2023 judicial reform project. Following the October 7, 2023 bloodshed, polarization increased around PM Netanyahu, accused of sacrificing Israeli hostages and refusing to establish a national commission of inquiry into the terrorist attack and subsequent war. On top of this, public outcry grew as two of the prime minister’s coalition partners sought to enshrine in law the de facto exemption from military service enjoyed by their strictly religious constituencies, even as reservists from other segments of the population were being mobilized en masse.
All these factors have fuelled polarization between the pro- and anti-Netanyahu camps, neither of which appears to represent a majority of the population. Therefore, engaging with Israel’s Arab minority is indispensable to breaking this deadlock. This needs to happen at the very least at the societal level, as it is true that many current Arab Israeli politicians have not reassured the Jewish public that they are able to work together within the structures of Israel as a Jewish and democratic state. However, rapprochement in society can pave the way for more political collaboration. Jewish and Arab Israelis have long shared spaces like public transport, hospitals and government offices, now they need to overcome the fear of exchanging views, feelings and narratives.
In this process, all parties will inevitably have to confront aspects of the broader Israeli-Palestinian question as well, even if this does not necessarily mean reaching an immediate political solution. However, instrumentalizing the Palestinian issue in order to attempt to break the political deadlock – a move captured in the Hebrew slogan Yamín o Falestín (“Right-wing or Palestine”) – will only entrench the same stalemate, as it is caused by decades of ignoring the former.
It is up to Israel’s democratically elected representatives to find a way out of the current conundrum, or accept new elections. In either case, it is essential to abandon the illusion that it is possible to address security concerns and heal societal divisions without engaging with Arab Israelis as well as Palestinians across the Green Line.
This article written by Dr. Alexander Loengarov, who managed the first rounds of an EU-funded grant scheme with Palestinian and Israeli partners. A visiting professor in international politics at KU Leuven (Belgium), he follows Middle East developments in Hebrew, Arabic and English on a daily basis, through both Middle Eastern and international media. Having authored a thesis on the recognition of Palestinian statehood as a matter that straddles law and politics, he has published analysis and commentary for, amongst others, the Middle East Journal, The National Interest, The Hill, and The Washington Institute for Near East Policy, as well as a variety of European and Middle Eastern outlets.
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