Attempted by abstention, voters of the Arab minority of Israel, who represent 20 % of the population, hold the key to the legislative elections of November 1.
By
Saïd Abu Shakra cannot come back. At the start of the week, an Israeli Jewish whom he does not know called his contemporary art gallery in Umm al-Fahm, a big Arab city in the north of the country. She inquired about the schedules, then, all of Go, embarked on a political harangue: Said must vote in the legislative elections of 1 er November, she urged her. He must also have his neighbors vote. The fate of Israel is in their hands. Said Abu Shakra hung up his phone, he sighed for a long time and Ri.
Basically, he agrees. Said will vote. But it is tired that Jews ask him to solve their problems, before worrying about his own. It is a paradox: never in its history, the Arab minority of Israel (20 % of the population) has been so courted, so powerful. In the fifth election since the spring of 2019, his voters are making king. And yet, they never seemed so tired.
The former Prime Minister, Benyamin Netanyahu, was deposited in June 2021 by a heterogeneous coalition of opponents. For the first time in the history of the Hebrew state, an Arab party participated in the government which succeeded it: Islamist training, the United Arab list led by Mansour Abbas. This team was broken after a year. Back to the ballot box. The Jewish majority voting systematically, with self -denial, at more than 70 %. She finds that the Palestinian citizens of Israel are turning more and more from politics. Surveys promise a participation of less than 50 % in the community. If they say true, Mr. Netanyahu will return to power.
“Our parties had been strong since they had managed to make a common list, in 2015. But today is or not to be … disunited, they are no longer assured of entering the Knesset” Passing the 3.25 % of the votes, notes Said Abu Shakra. “People think that these elections will not serve the Palestinians.” Old supporter of the communist training Hadash, where Jewish executives sit alongside Arabs, the gallery owner will vote this year for Islamists, by cutting his nose. “Their chief, Mansour Abbas, is courageous, he says what he thinks. I prefer to be with him, involved, powerful, and not on the side of the victims, of those who accuse and blame.”
Saïd Abu Shakra is a former Israeli police officer. He retired early to devote himself to the associative gallery he founded in 1996, and which regularly exhibits Jewish artists. If Mr. Netanyahu returned to power, he would lose the hope of having it recognized as a museum by the State, the first in an Arab city. In Umm al-Fahm, his fellow citizens admire his energy. But it also irritates a lot, like lawyer Ahmad Khalifa, who does not vote. Ideological case: Mr. Khalifa leads here the nationalist movement Abnaa al-Balad, “son of the country”, which rejects the Jewish nature of the State. This training was born in the city. Like the Islamist movement of the North, prohibited in Israel.
You have 51.29% of this article to read. The continuation is reserved for subscribers.