Mansour Abbas
Mansour Abbas pushes back against outgoing Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s accusation that the incoming government has ‘’sold the Negev to the Bedouin.”
“On the other hand, we all called for the preservation of law and order and to demonstrate in a legal manner,” says United Arab List head • Israel Police: The Arab sector has 10,000 illegal firearms.
“This has nothing to do with the Arab-Israeli conflict, but is about money and power. Why are no Arab politicians in Jerusalem protesting? It is because they are focused on gaining power and prestige,” said Rodayna Badir, an expert on Arab society in Israel.
Experts argue that Arabs are tired of slogans and looking for a change; their voters want to see a party that has influence and not just sits in the Knesset without achievements for the Arab sector.
Israel’s Ra’am Party head Mansour Abbas’s responsiveness to the democratic demands of a broadening Arab constituency in Israel may have opened a veritable Pandora’s box for the Palestinian leadership in Ramallah.
Amid rising pressure to enter coalition talks with Netanyahu, Religious Zionist Party head insists he will never join a government backed by the Ra’am Party.
Knesset speaker disqualifies Joint Arab List MKs’ oaths of office due to altered wording after each lawmaker vows: “I pledge to fight the [Israeli] occupation, racism and apartheid.”
“For 30 years, we’ve tried the path of isolationism, and it hasn’t gotten us anywhere. It’s time for a change,” says a senior member of the Arab-Israeli party.
The Israeli prime minister rules out forming a government with Arab parties, despite reports about his ties with Mansour Abbas of the United Arab List.
Ahead of the March 23 elections, the Joint List will comprise the Balad, Ta’al and Hadash parties with polls predicting that Ra’am won’t make it into the Knesset if it runs independently.
Veteran Arab political observer Shaheen Sarsour said even though the Joint Arab List has 15 members in the Knesset, “it does not influence the government. Mansour Abbas’s move was meant to change that.”
Between Ra’am Party head MK Mansour Abbas’s stunning support for Netanyahu, the Joint Arab List’s disappointment in Blue and White and Israel’s looming elections, the faction seems shakier than ever.
