In the past few weeks, there have been some under-the-radar developments that could upset the Arab parties. Mazen Ghanayem, a senior member of the Balad party who is also a former mayor of Sakhnin and chairman of the Council of Arab Leaders, has been negotiating with the Democratic Union.
A number of senior political officials who want to create the groundwork for an Arab-Jewish party that could offer Arab voters a viable alternative to the Joint Arab List, are involved. Their goal is to provide a solution for the more than two-third of the Arab public who want to be represented in the next government coalition.
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If Ghanayem agrees to run with the Democratic Union, he might make history as the first MK to abandon the national Arab party, many of whose members don't even believe that they can have any influence in the Knesset and who see running for the Knesset as a kind of concession to and recognition of "the Zionist semi-democracy."
But Ghanayem took a tough blow in the April 9 election when he was placed fifth on the Balad-Ra'am list, which meant he failed to make it into the Knesset. A second blow came on Sept. 17, when he decided to remove himself from the Joint Arab List roster after being placed 13th, only to see the party win 13 seats.
Many in the Arab sector see Ghanayem's move as revenge against Balad and the Joint Arab List. In the last election, he kept out of rallies and election activities, and now he is reaching out to a political entity whose path was set, in part, by none other than Ehud Barak, who was prime minister during the unrest of October 2000, the outbreak of the Second Intifada.
Although Ghanayem enjoys widespread popularity among the Arab public, his major achievements have been mostly as chairman of the board of the Bnei Sakhnin soccer team, which won the national soccer championship. Now he is facing considerable criticism, and possibly an aggressive campaign by leaders of the Joint Arab List, which is currently unchallenged in Arab politics on the national level.
One of Ghanayem's toughest challenges could come from his home territory. Current Sakhnin Mayor Dr. Safwat Abo-Raya, who beat him in last year's mayoral election, is a member of the Jewish-Arab Hadash party. Abo-Raya, like Ghanayem, comes from a large extended family, and the upcoming Knesset election could throw Sakhnin back into the violent clashes that broke out after the mayoral election. Another challenge Ghanayem could face is criticism from the Arabs killed in October 2000 over his decision to run for the Knesset on a list identified with Barak.
Since the departure of Balad founder Azmi Bishara, the party has undergone upheavals and is now in the greatest distress in its history. For the past 10 years, Balad has gotten bogged down in various scandals and investigations, and Ghanayem breaking ranks could be the coup-de-grace for the party. Some will blame the establishment for what is happening to the party and claim that Balad is the victim of political persecution, but many Arabs want to see it lose power, and maybe disappear entirely.
