Islamist party council debates whether to back early Israel elections

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The United Arab List’s Shura Council, the party’s umbrella body, is meeting Tuesday to debate coalition policies and Wednesday’s vote to dissolve the Israeli parliament.

The council has been placing growing pressure on the party to leave the coalition and vote in favor of dissolving the Knesset – which would send Israel to another election. However, there is opposition within the party – particularly from Chairman Mansour Abbas and faction leader Walid Taha – for the time being.

Speaking to Radio Ashams on Tuesday, Taha said that holding a general election now does not serve the interests of the Arab public and certainly would not increase its representation in the Knesset.

Taha said that one option was for the party to vote against dissolving the Knesset on Wednesday, but refrain from participating in other Knesset deliberations. In effect, the UAL would suspend its declared freeze on coalition membership for one day. By preventing the bill to dissolve the Knesset from advancing either to the Knesset plenum or committees, the UAL could buy time and continue negotiations with coalition leaders over its demands – most of which relate to civic issues.

Party sources said that it would not serve the party to enter an election campaign while voters are focused on tensions at the Al-Aqsa Mosque. Party officials pointed to an opinion poll broadcast Monday by Channel 13 news. The poll predicted that if an election were held now, the UAL would not garner enough votes to cross the electoral threshold and enter the Knesset. While officials noted that past polls underestimated the party’s strength, partially because pollsters have trouble reaching the party’s key voter base in the Negev, anger and frustration among party activists remains strong, including in the south.

At the same time, the Joint List – an alliance of three parties that is the UAL’s rival for Arab votes – is also feeling strained ahead of the Wednesday vote.

Joint List leaders sent messages to party activists and others on Monday explaining that they didn’t back two no-confidence motions submitted by Likud on Monday because supporting them would be tantamount to supporting Benjamin Netanyahu.

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Nevertheless, an official statement by the Joint List said they would vote in favor of dissolving the Knesset and moving to elections on Wednesday.

Meanwhile, the representative of the Balad faction within the party, Sami Abu Shehadeh, cancelled a party meeting on Tuesday after learning that certain members of the Joint List were holding talks with Defense Minister Benny Gantz and Foreign Minister Yair Lapid. Sources close to Abu Shehadeh said that though the talks were informal, they should have been coordinated with him.

A senior Balad official said that Abu Shehadeh sought to send a message to his partners in the alliance, Joint List Chairman Ayman Odeh and Ta’al Chief Ahmad Tibi, not to act without consulting him.

Tibi and Odeh vehemently denied that the Joint List failed to back the no-confidence motions on Monday due to any agreements with the coalition. They said that informal discussion in the Knesset corridors were business as usual, and did not imply that any understandings had been reached with the coalition. They added that their decision regarding Wednesday’s vote to dissolve the Knesset is final.