Travel Reference
In-Depth Information
to gain state services for its constituents, which is why a large portion of Arabs vote for Zionist
parties. Their basic rejection of the status quo prevents them from joining government coali-
tions or bargaining to provide their votes in the Knesset in exchange for benefi ts.
A second critical reason for these parties' failure to win more votes is the deep and bitter
rivalry among the Arab parties, which refl ects clear ideological differences between Commu-
nists, Islamists, and Arab nationalists. In addition, party loyalties are linked to family and clan
allegiances which makes it diffi cult for constituents to shop among the parties in order to get
the greatest advantage for themselves. In 2009, for instance, the three Arab parties received
eleven seats with about 9 percent of the total ballots, only half the Arab portion of the popula-
tion. One of the parties, Balad, barely exceeded the minimum vote for getting any representa-
tion at all. They thus remain small and ineffective.
At one time, several Arab lists existed in affi liation with Mapai, allowing Arab candidates
to be simultaneously independent and linked to Mapai. This system ended when Labor lost
control of the government in 1977. By the 1980s, Israel's security situation had relaxed, and a
new opportunity arose for Arab parties to participate in politics on the national level.
The Supreme Court has upheld the right of Arab parties to run in elections and the right of
their members to serve in the Knesset despite a law stating that parties running for the Knesset
must uphold the principle of Israel as a Jewish and democratic state. The Arab parties, at least
those other than the Communists, do not meet that standard.
Hadash (Communists)
The Palestinian Communist Party was founded in 1924. Most members of this party were Jews
sympathetic with the Soviet Union who viewed Zionism as a bourgeois movement. When it
tried to become a Jewish Arab party, differences between the two constituent groups often
divided them. In 1948 the Palestinian and Jewish factions reunited. They maintained their op-
position to Zionism but pledged loyalty to the state.
The party followed Soviet policy —which supported Arab nationalism and opposed Israel
but never criticized the treatment of Jews in the Soviet Union — and gradually lost almost all
of its Jewish members, becoming in effect an Arab nationalist party. As a result, the party split
in 1965. The Jewish party, Maki, disintegrated in 1973; the new Rakah Party went further in the
Arab nationalist direction.
In 1977 the party changed its name to Hadash (Democratic Front for Peace and Equality)
when it tried to join with other left-wing, non-Communist groups in a failed attempt to attract
more Jewish voters. The Soviet Union's fall eliminated its sponsor and reduced the party's as-
sets. For example, one of its traditional points of appeal was the ability to provide scholarships
for Israeli Arabs to study in Soviet bloc countries.
Hadash's platform calls for establishing a Palestinian state and demands recognition of Is-
raeli Arabs as a national minority with special rights. The party has held between three and fi ve
seats in the Knesset and sometimes runs Jewish members as candidates. In an unusual devel-
opment in 2008, Dov Khanin, a Jewish member of the party, made a serious run to be mayor
of Tel Aviv on the City for Everyone ticket. Although he eventually lost with 34 percent, his list
gained 15 percent of the city council seats.
