RAHAT, Israel — In the
Arab-Israeli town of
Rahat, a few trampled political party flyers on the pavement are the only sign
that the country is about to go to the polls.
اضافة اعلان
While the campaign ahead of Israel’s fifth election
in four years has been somewhat lackluster nationwide, the apathy is especially
acute among the Arab minority where turnout is feared to be low.
“The top issue is ‘How do we get Arab citizens from
their house to the ballot box?’,” said Fayez Abu Souhaiban, mayor of Rahat,
ahead of the November 1 polls.
“This is a big issue and a very big dilemma.”
The town sits in the southern Negev desert region,
far from Israel’s centers of power and home to the majority of Israel’s
bedouins who are part of the wider Arab community.
In Rahat’s central market, many traders and shoppers
told AFP they had no idea who to vote for and were unable to name any
candidates or parties.
In part, the disinterest is the result of dashed
hopes for Arab-Israelis who make up about 20 percent of the country’s
population and have long complained of discrimination, despite recent political
gains.
Just last year the Bedouins’ key advocate,
Mansour Abbas, became the first leader of an independent Arab party to join a coalition
government.
However, while the inclusion of his conservative
Islamic party Raam brought funding pledges and promises to tackle inequality,
many Arab-Israelis now argue they saw no tangible benefits from the coalition
before it collapsed in June.
‘There’s no change’
Rami Abu Sharem, a teacher
and cafe owner in the Negev village of Hura, complained of “zero investment” in
the community and in education in particular.
“We used to vote all the time, but this time we’ll
abstain,” he said of his family.
“Whether you vote or don’t vote, it’s the same
thing. There’s no change,” added the 29-year-old.
Arab politicians are already underrepresented in
parliament, most of them sitting in Arab-majority parties that hold just 10 out
of the Knesset’s 120 seats.
Turnout will be influenced by people’s
disappointment in their parliamentary representatives and a broader alienation
from politics, said Tamar Hermann, a senior research fellow at the
Israel Democracy Institute.
“On a good day it would be 45 percent,” she said,
akin to last year and down from nearly 65 percent reached in 2020.
Comparatively, the nationwide turnout has been above
67 percent in the past four elections.
As Israel’s
political system is characterized by coalition-building, a poor show for Arab
parties could strengthen the right-wing bloc led by former premier Benjamin
Netanyahu, who is seeking a comeback.
“If the Arabs don’t vote, then the chance of the
right to have a 61-seat coalition gets higher,” said Hermann.
Raam is forecast to hold onto its four seats, but
broader Arab representation could be dented after the Arab nationalist party
Balad decided to quit an alliance with two other groups.
The remaining alliance of the Hadash and Taal
parties is forecast to win four seats, the minimum for representation in
parliament, but Balad has been polling far below that threshold.
‘Not about billboards’
Balad politician Mtanes
Shehadeh, sitting in the shade of an olive tree in a cafe in the northern port
city of Haifa, however remained confident he can bring out the vote among his
constituents.
“We have branches to work in the field, work with
the people, conduct home visits, private discussion groups, rallies,
distributing leaflets on the streets,” he said.
“We think it’s enough to get four seats. We
influence the political sphere, that’s our role,” added Shehadeh, whose Balad
party is opposed to joining any coalition.
While Shehadeh said he has already visited the Negev
during the campaign, the majority of Arab voters live in northern Israel.
Shopping in central Haifa, 70-year-old Rosa
Balloutine summed up the level of despondency when she dismissed all
politicians as “liars”.
But she added that “in the end I will go to vote,
otherwise my voice will go to Netanyahu”.
Aida Touma-Suleiman, an Israeli-Arab lawmaker from
Hadash, said she feared “thousands, maybe tens of thousands of votes ... will
be thrown away” if Balad does not cross the electoral threshold.
While many voters have voiced frustration at
Israel’s repeated rounds of elections, Touma-Suleiman said that “it’s one
frustration on top of another” for the Arab minority whose political alliance
has split.
Fielding calls in a Haifa office, where paint was
peeling off the walls, she admitted Arab lawmakers have their work cut out.
“This election is not about billboards, it’s not
about big meetings,” said Touma-Suleiman.
“You need to work hard today and to develop a kind
of quiet and sincere talk with your voters, in order to convince them to come
and to vote.”
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