An image that surfaced last week during debates in the Knesset plenum can be summed up as "one Arab MK against another, and neither has the authority to make a decision."
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Chairman of the Ra'am party, MK Mansour Abbas, was in charge of the plenum meeting, and one after another, MKs from the Joint Arab List stood up and attacked the government – and mainly, their rivals – … and the "electricity bill," which allows people living in houses built without permits to hook up to the national electricity grid, in certain circumstances.
This was a historic event in Israeli politics and Arab politics in particular – an Arab MK was representing the coalition and defending the law, while another Arab MK – in this case, Dr. Ahmad Tibi – represented those who opposed the bill.
Historians and political scientists will spend considerable time studying what is currently taking place in the Knesset when it comes to relations between Arabs in the coalition and the opposition. This might be a unique situation, mostly because Arab MKs in the coalition are not considered full partners and do not support it fully, and Arab MKs in the opposition are not considered full partners and oppose it just as strongly as they oppose the government.
There are three notable political streams in Israel's Arab society. The pragmatic stream, which Mansour Abbas leads, says that Arabs should drop the nationalist side of things and focus on socioeconomic issues, and move Arab society forward by joining the coalition. The second stream, represented by the Joint Arab List, comprises elected officials who are fighting for national rights alongside, and sometimes before, civil rights, while also championing the Palestinian issue all the time, in every place, as they see themselves and their voters as an integral part of the Palestinian people who are differentiated as Arab citizens of Israel. The third stream is the militant one, and opposes participation in Knesset elections on ideological grounds, preferring to focus on progress in Arab society through Arab local authorities and NGOs. This last stream includes the Northern Branch of the Islamic movement, which was outlawed a few years ago and whose leaders were tried and convicted and have been in prison in Israel for years, as well as the Albanaa el-Balad ("sons of the village") movement and a considerable number of supporters and members of the Balad party.
The political disputes are causing major rifts in Arab Israeli society. This is especially notable on social media, which is full of each group inciting against the others. I wouldn't be surprised if the dispute turns into physical clashes, like the attack on Abbas in Umm al-Fahm last year.
Now is the time for wise leadership, one that will bring all the Arab political players in Israel together for dialogue rather than unchecked mutual incitement. It's only a matter of time before one Arab political leader or another is attacked, and that must not happen.
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