The Islamic Movement in Israel: As part of a Zionist Coalition and the New National Elections
بقلم: Suheir Abu Oksa Daoud
United to prevent Netanyahu from winning another elections in 2021, the main Arab parties in Israel (the IM, DFPE, the National Democratic Assembly [NDA], and the Arab Party for Change) agreed to support a Zionist coalition that opposed Netanyahu’s coalition, creating a situation where the whole idea of Arab parties supporting government coalitions is legitimate. Meanwhile, due to political and personal reasons (lacking of Jewish a majority that could save his government and facing serious corruption charges), and not for democratic principles or the believing in the incorporation Arabs in the decision-making process, Benjamin Netanyahu, Prime Minister then (2009-2021), initiated secret negotiations with Mansour Abbas, the leader of the IM political wing—The United List for his party’s entry to his coalition.
However, in a surprising move Abbas introduced his “New Way,” and joined (with another three members of his party)the so called “Government of Change,” a coalition government of two opposing Zionist leaders; Naftali Bennett, the far-right leader of the religious ultra-nationalist party; and Yair Lapid, the secular centrist on June 2, 2021. (The government collapsed in July 2022). Coining this historic entry of an Arab party to a government coalition for the first time in Israel’s history, “the New Way” by Abbas himself, was a shocking surprise to many, not only due to Abbas’s being a Palestinian but also an Islamist.
However, knowing the history of the IM—the southern faction, will not be surprised about Abbas’s entry to the coalition. Following the Nakba and the establishment of Israel in 1948, the Muslim Brothers organization, which operated in Palestine, suffered a major setback; all its institutions in the newly formed Jewish state were shut down. With renewed contact between Palestinians in Israel and Palestinians in the Occupied Palestinian Territories (OPT) following the Israeli occupation of the West Bank, East Jerusalem and Gaza Strip after the Six-Day War (1967), Islamism revived and began penetrating the Triangle Muslim area (adjacent to the OPT) in Israel. The founders were young Palestinian men attracted to religion and to studying in Islamic colleges in the OPT who started to organize underground under the name Usrat al-Jihad (Family of the Jihad). But after state persecution and a three-year imprisonment in the late 1970s, the movement’s founder, Sheikh Abdallah Nimr Darweesh, moderated his political views and established the Islamic Movement as a pragmatic, moderate political/religious organization. The movement denounced terrorism and violence, recognized the state, and accepted the status of a minority within a Jewish majority. Further, the IM adopted the democratic framework of the state. Similar to the other Palestinians who remained in their land after 1948, the IM accepted the citizenship and permanent residency, as well as the right to vote and run for public office, but with conditional integration into state institutions. But ideological and internal political divisions caused the IM to split in 1996 into two factions: the so-called Southern faction and a Northern faction. One of the main questions that caused the split was differences regarding participation in Israel’s national elections. The more pragmatic Southern Faction (of Darweesh) ran for national elections while the Northern Faction, led by Sheikh Raed Salah, opposed active participation in Knesset elections, believing that participation would imply recognizing Israel as a Jewish state.
Abbas’s explanation for his move was that only from within a government, and not being in opposition, can his party improve the status of the Arabs in Israel and influence policies on main issues concerning them, including crime, housing, education, budgets to Arab localities as well as the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. In a tweet dated August 11, 2021, Abbas said, ”I came to politics with a moral and a valet mission: to promote a tolerant political dialogue and real partnership for the good of all state citizens. It is not enough to pray for peace, we have to act to achieve it” (Twitter, August 12, 2021, translated from Hebrew). Later, in another tweet, Abbas asserted, ”The times when we were just a number lacking any influence and meaning in Israel’s politics has ended” (November 11, 2021, translated from Hebrew).
But Abbas did everything wrong while in this short-lived government. An examination of his New Way reveals a total renunciation of the traditional IM political behavior and contradict Abbas’s announcement “New Way” itself that claimed to serving the Arab citizens in Israel and helping to promote peace efforts between Israel and the Palestinian.
According to Abd El-Rahman Magadleh, a journalist who first supported Abbas’s New Way:
“Abbas spoke about a new way that intended to influence the decision-making process and Israel politics where Arabs do not stay sitting on the bench watching the game, screaming and opposing without real influence rather inside the game achieving goals and rights for the Arab society in Israel. Getting closer to the “plate”- will result in getting better financial opportunities and budgets. I and many others supported this.”
Crossing every line as an Islamist and as a Palestinian, Abbas was faced with strong opposition from within his party and from without.
Expressing deep discontent from Abbas’s actions, Ibrahim Sarsour, one the most prominent leaders of the IM and its former leader, said, ”The IM rejects Abbas’s statements regarding the normalization with Israel and the Jewish nature of the state and consider it a deviation from its religious and national conventions.” Sarsour further called Abbas to commit to “the IM in sprit and actions.”
According to activist Zuhriyyeh ‘Azab,
“Abbas constitutes a phenomenon that is not new; it is connected to the failed process of Israelization. The system does not want the Arab citizens to enjoy equal rights and treat them with racism, stealing their rights. Mansour Abbas did not add anything to our rights as Arabs in this state. Even budgets we did not see due to continuing failures of governments and going to many elections. Abbas does not represent the Palestinians; he is a bad example of everything religious and national. He has no connection to Islam what so ever except for, maybe, praying like us but nothing more than that.”
Secular DFPE member, Elias Abu Oksa, listed Abbas’s many actions that harmed Arab rights:
“Abbas received promises that were not actualized. They promised him billions, divided by several years, but these promises are gone with the collapse the government. Not a penny was transferred. Abbas said that he will support the coalition for the people’s benefits and will not interfere in the state’s affairs and security matters. In other words; blindly. He translated his “New way” by voting against the Arab parties supporting racist laws including the Kamenets law, enacted in 2017, that confirms Arab house demolitions, voted against Palestinian family union, against connecting Arab houses to electricity, against canceling the entry test to universities that works mostly against the Arab students and against forming a committee to investigate violence in the Arab localities. During his time in the coalition government, the government refused to establish a committee to investigate May 2021 attacks on Arabs in the mixed cities, and also voted to extend the settlements law in the POT leaving the Palestinians under military rule. In sum, Abbas was ready to do anything to stay in the coalition and to serve the government and had said so many times.”
Magadleh was even more harsh on his criticism. He said:
“There is absolutely no excuse for what Abbas and the United List have done. Even the claims that we received budgets is not a reason to relinquish our Islamic and national fundamentals. In my view, Abbas, in his attitudes and statements, had crossed his limits as a representative of the Palestinian people and also crossed the God’s lines when he said that “Israel was created as a Jewish state and will remain Jewish regardless what other may think.”
While Mansour’s opposition grow among his party members and supporters, no action was made to remove him from its leadership Magadleh explained why this is not happening yet:
“Inside the IM, there is a discontent towards the pragmatic way of Abbas and that was expressed that in the mass media and the social media but due to the personal interests, they are not acting against him. Sarsour, the former leader of the IM said in a post that Abbas’s post is against everything the IM believes in and that he is against it. Abbas issued statements that harmed the Palestinian narrative and the historic positions of the Palestinians inside [Israel] ignoring the war on Gaza that the government that he was part of waged it.”
The Unity That Has Gone
While the many efforts to reunite the two IM factions failed, the March 2015 national elections saw an unprecedented unification of the four major Arab parties who all formed a united list called a Joint Arab List for the first time in their history. The List achieved 13 mandates (out of 120) and become the third the third-largest party in the Knesset, with two of the 13 members being from the IM.
Commenting on this unity and the historic achievement of the Arab parties, IM member and former MK Ghanayem asserted his convictions about this unity saying: “We are eager to keep this unity and regard it a strategy and not a tactic because it is the answer to the biggest challenge for us as a minority in Israel.” But this unity was deeply damaged by Abbas’s actions and his insistence on continuing.
Abbas’s entry into a coalition government not only did not achieve anything meaningful for the Palestinians in Israel, it resulted in a dangerous fragmentation of the Arabs and their vulnerability in the face of the rising racism and challenges. With growing calls for unity on the eve of the upcoming elections, Abbas had repeated his intention to enter any government by saying that he does not reject anyone. Magadleh saw that as a deep contradiction to Islam and to nationalism because it meant accepting the extreme far right “religious Zionism party” while Abu Oksa spoke about conditions for a future unity with the IM. He concluded:
“DEFPE’S condition to ally with the United Arab List again will not happen unless it apologizes for its behaviors and the “New Way” and with the changing Abbas himself as the leader of the List. There will be no possibility for agreement and alliance if the situation remains as it.”
Meanwhile, Palestinians in Israel have to consider whether serving in the Israeli Knesset in the first place, is the right strategy for their struggle for achievement of full citizenship rights. They should seek alternative strategies for their struggle. Their methods are proving so far to be ineffective whether when being in opposition or in a coalition as the example of Abbas had proven.
Suheir Abu Oksa Daoud
Professor of Politics, Coastal Carolina University