Israel Elections: Joint List on verge of breaking up

Odeh's party: No Likud branch will be allowed inside the Joint List

By GIL HOFFMAN
MK MANSOUR ABBAS (middle front) and members of the Arab Joint List vote in December to dissolve the Knesset. (photo credit: OLIVIER FITOUSSI/FLASH90)
MK MANSOUR ABBAS (middle front) and members of the Arab Joint List vote in December to dissolve the Knesset.
(photo credit: OLIVIER FITOUSSI/FLASH90)
The leaders of the four parties in the Joint List are set to meet on Wednesday to decide whether to run together in the March 23 election, amid new differences that are threatening to tear apart the slate of Arab candidates.
The party heads met on Sunday at the home of former MK Mohammed Barakeh and did not make progress toward reaching an agreement.
The Ra’am (United Arab List) Party of MK Mansour Abbas has set conditions for running together with the Joint List that the other three parties cannot accept.
Ra’am asked the list to not vote for bills that could harm the conservative religious identity of Arab society, which is seen as a reference to legislation promoting the rights of the LGBT community.
Abbas’s party also asked that it be given freedom from faction discipline on other key issues in pursuit of its bond with Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and the Right.
“The list should respect Ra’am’s decisions to be influential,” the party said.
The Hadash Party of Joint List leader Ayman Odeh emphatically rejected Ra’am’s requests and said Abbas’s faction must respect previous agreements between the four parties. The Balad Party will also take a tougher line against Abbas now that it is led by new chairman Sami Abou Shahadeh.
“Freedom from faction discipline could mean recommending Netanyahu to form the next government, enabling the passage of a bill that could help him evade prosecution or other stinking political deals with Likud,” a Hadash spokesman said. “Joining or helping a right-wing government or enabling annexation are red lines for us. We will not allow there to be a Likud branch inside the Joint List.”
The leaders of the four parties in the Joint List are set to meet on Wednesday to decide whether to run together in the March 23 election, amid new differences that are threatening to tear apart the slate of Arab candidates.
The party heads met on Sunday at the home of former MK Mohammed Barakeh and did not make progress toward reaching an agreement.
The Ra'am (United Arab List) Party of MK Mansour Abbas has set conditions for running together with the Joint List that the other three parties cannot accept.
Ra'am asked the list to not vote for bills that could harm the conservative religious identity of Arab society, which is seen as a reference to legislation promoting the rights of the LGBT community.
Abbas's party also asked that it be given freedom from faction discipline on other key issues in pursuit of its bond with Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and the Right.
"The list should respect Ra'am's decisions to be influential," the party said.
The Hadash Party of Joint List leader Ayman Odeh emphatically rejected Ra'am's requests and said Abbas's faction must respect previous agreements between the four parties. The Balad Party will also take a tougher line against Abbas now that it is led by new chairman Sami Abu Shehadeh.
"Freedom from faction discipline could mean recommending Netanyahu to form the next government, enabling the passage of a bill that could help him evade prosecution or other stinking political deals with Likud," a Hadash spokesman said. "Joining or helping a right-wing government or enabling annexation are red lines for us. We will not allow there to be a Likud branch inside the Joint List."


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Arab sector
Ayman Odeh
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