The experiment that was the 36th Israeli government and included, for the first time, an Arab party, didn't fail on its own, rather it was set up to fail in the eye of both the Jewish and Arab public in Israel.
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Perhaps this was the case of the right move at the wrong time. The historic step the Islamist Ra'am party took into the coalition was the target of a delegitimization campaign from day one, and the government – formed with a razor-thin majority – wasn't up to countering to effort to undermine the attempt to integrate a party largely representing some 20% of Israel's population.
The virulent rhetoric employed by the opposition when criticizing the fact that an Arab party sits in the coalition was driven less by ideology and more by the Likud and radical right's utter inability to cope with the fact that they were stripped of power.
The result, however, was the same: the Jewish majority has been convinced that Ra'am "supports terrorism," while the Arab public learned how little an Islamist party could achieve in the coalition.
Two interesting phenomena in Arab politics in Israel will characterize the elections for the 25th Knesset: the first is a significant drop in voter turnout in the Arab sector – a scenario that is making Arab lawmakers lose sleep; and the second is that the Joint Arab List could be the one to offset the Center-Left bloc on the one hand and the right-wing bloc on the other hand.
This would land the Joint Arab List in a position to mark political gains sans any commitment on its part, and all it would have to do to push legislation or secure budgets would be to abstain on major votes.
Arab participation in the coalition, any coalition, was a matter of time, so one has to wonder what the critics are afraid of. After all, these are the same critics who promoted and approved the increase in the number of Arab conscripts in security forces and pushed for increased budgets for the integration of Arabs in high-tech and academia.
Most Arab Israelis think Arab parties should be included in the coalition by right – not by the grace of Israeli politicians. The integration of minorities in government is necessary and appropriate. The intimidation campaign will only embolden elements in Arab society calling them not to vote in the Knesset elections for ideological reasons.
Regardless, principles and ideology will be the last things driving the next elections neither for the Jewish public nor for the Arab one. These elections will be about holding onto or regaining power, so it's safe to say that Ra'am will negotiate with whoever agrees to include it in their government.
The Joint Arab List, for its part, will not negotiate for a coalition seat, rather it will try to mark political gains through its parliamentary work. For the Joint Arab List, the elections can achieve two important goals: the ability to topple a government and make Ra'am disappear – if the latter fails to pass the four-seat electoral threshold. If it gets its way, the Joint Arab List will again prove to Arab Israelis that any attempt to include an Arab party in the coalition – especially a right-wing one – is doomed to fail.
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