The «Joint List»: Unity First and Last

The partisan map in Israel is witnessing changes by the return of a number of retired personalities to the political and partisan scene, including Ehud Barak, Amir Peretz, Nitzan Horowitz, and perhaps Tzipi Livni, the pupil of Ariel Sharon.

These retired join the "blue-white" party led by Gantz under a sole slogan of overthrowing Netanyahu, whereby none of them has a concrete program that could be a substitute for what is proposed by the prime minister, his party and his coalition in politics and economics.

Therefore, they focus on the file of his corruption and the possibility that the opening of an official investigation with him to overthrow him and put an end to his ambitions of continuing on the head of the government for the fifth consecutive time. At the same time, the components of the "Joint List" are trying to re-assemble their ranks, benefit from its previous experience and develop it in the face of attempts to marginalize and exclude Arab parties, in the context of the escalation of racist policies against Palestinians in the 1948 territories.

The return of the "retired" is a well-known phenomenon in Israeli political and partisan work. Netanyahu himself was one of its symbols. As he returned in 2009 and succeeded in forming the government and heading it when he in cooperation with Barak ,thwarted Tzipi Livni's efforts to form it after her ‘’Kadima’’ party won the largest share of seats in the Knesset.

But the success of these retirees in making achievements after their return requires always the existence of subjective and objective conditions that are interconnected, including the map of competitors within the party that they return to and outside it. And the ability of the «returnee» to formulate alliances that strengthen its position and achieve its ambitions, and this has been provided to Benjamin Netanyahu, which has not have any new competitors since 2009, until his former ally, Avigdor Lieberman, came and prevented him from translating the victory of the right camp in the previous elections to an achievement by the formation of his fifth government, when he refused to join it and deprived him of the parliamentary majority which he needed to achieve this, and he kept him standing on one foot at threshold of 60 votes.

Inside Likud it is clear that Netanyahu has succeeded in developing the party's position, increasing its seats in the Knesset, and consolidating its leadership role in the government coalitions it has formed since 2009 until today, also in his party it is obvious that his ability has enabled him to maneuver in many stations to overcome the challenges faced by his government, especially in 2010, when conflicts emerged between his government and the administration of Barack Obama on the file of settlements and the required conditions to revive the negotiating process, which was suspended in the time of President George Jr. in 2008, on the background Obama's speech at Cairo University in the summer of 2009, in which he called for a settlement freeze and halting the demolition of Palestinian homes after he spoke about their right in a state that belongs to them.

But it is very different with regard to the return of Ehud Barak, who is at the head of a new party in the face of Netanyahu, and who was his right-hand man, not only in maneuvering and circumventing on Tzipi Livni's efforts to form a government, but also in weakening his ''Labor'' party, when he divided it and joined most of his parliamentary bloc with the Netanyahu government, against the party's decision at the time. Since Barak has taken over the leadership of ''Labor party '' in 1999 and won the elections, the party has begun a series of retreats and lost in the 2001 elections in the face of Likud led by Sharon. Therefore, Barak has no positives in his favor, neither in the face of Netanyahu and his policies and his "individualism," which he is criticizing now, nor in maintaining the interests of his party and the consolidation of his position on the Israeli political and partisan map.

Peretz, who recently won the chairmanship of the Labor Party, is not better off in the absence of the party's identity and its social and political programs, which can distinguish it from other parties, along with the slogans it has raised over the decades that followed its establishment. Peretz hasn’t formed a leading figure and he remained a reclusive figure within it. It was clear that his return to the party leadership again, is due to the leadership crisis that the party has suffered for over 20 years.

If Tzipi Livni returns to political action, it is governed by the status of the left and center parties and their ability to formulate a joint program against the Likud and its allies, which is unlikely due to the close convergence between the various Zionist parties in the government and the opposition in the political aspect of the program, especially with regard to the ways of resolving the Palestinian and Arab-Israeli conflict, and the position of the Palestinian national rights to return and the establishment of an independent state on the entire borders of 4th June 1967 with East Jerusalem as its capital.

According to the above, Benjamin Netanyahu and his allies are moving to overcome the obstacle that prevented them from forming a government after the previous elections and examining the available possibilities to benefit from the mini extremist right-wing parties to support Netanyahu's camp and put alternatives in the case of difficulties that prevent them again to get the parliamentary majority of the crisis to pass the formation of the next government headed by Netanyahu.

Regarding the Arab parties, the parties that have earlier formed the "Joint List" are continuing to re-establish the experience and unite the efforts of these parties on the threshold of the upcoming elections and to benefit from that experience, on the basis of promoting the national, political and legal interests of the Arab masses in the lands of the 48. Perhaps the agreement (so far) between these parties on the ranking of the top ten names on the united list, is an encouraging introduction to the success of these endeavors.

Needless to say, that the existing Zionist racist policies and their escalation against our people in the lands of the 48 are supposed to be an essential motive for unifying the efforts of the Arab parties in the face of these policies, which are expressed in the racist "National Law" and under the unified American-Israeli attack on the national rights of the Palestinian people in all its places by the so-called "deal of the century".

The formation of the "Joint List" on the doors of the 2015 elections led to an increase in the Arab voting percentage after the Arab masses in the territories of the 48 noticed that there is a seriousness of their parties, in dealing with their rights and their social and national aspirations. Whereby it happened the opposite when these parties failed in repeating the experience at the eve of the past elections. Frustrated by this failure, many abstained from voting in the elections. Within this atmosphere, the Zionist parties were the main beneficiaries, as during the last elections, they won more than 30% of the Arab votes in their favor.

The Arab parties are before a national responsibility exam once again and we are on the threshold of the next elections, in light of the optimism, provided by the Palestinian masses in the territories of the 48, hoping that these parties will succeed in passing this exam ... successfully.

Mohammad Alsahli : Editor in Chief of Alhourriah newspaper, the official speaker of the Democratic Front for the Liberation of Palestine.