Arab Joint List reunites: ‘We’re going together’

Three Arab parties agreed to revive the Arab Joint List, they announced on Saturday.

By World Israel News Staff

Three Arab parties – Hadash, Ta’al and Ra’am – announced they would revive the Arab Joint List ahead of the September elections at a press conference in Nazareth on Saturday.

“We’re going together,” tweeted Ayman Odeh, head of Hadash, an Arab communist party, on Saturday.

The three parties are upset at a fourth Arab party – Balad – which didn’t come to the press conference and has yet to decide if it will merge into the Joint List.

According to Israel Hayom, senior sources in the three parties are angry at the heads of Balad. “If Balad continues to be stubborn on minor items, we’ll all pay a heavy price and lose precious mandates. There’s a real danger that Balad won’t pass the electoral threshold. The Arab public won’t forgive them for it,” the sources said.

In order to enter the Knesset, every party must obtain a certain minimum of the general vote. Currently, the number is set at 3.25 percent.

The head of Balad,  Mtanes Shehadeh, said his party would meet on Sunday to decide on whether to join the newly revived Joint List.

Israeli-Arabs scored better when united. In 2015, they won 13 seats, becoming the third-largest faction in the Knesset and winning 82 percent of the Arab vote. In 2019, after the party split into two factions, the Arab vote garnered only 10 seats.