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Israel’s Arab Joint List Comes Apart as Elections Approach Daniel Sonnenfeld 01/31/2021 The Arab majority alliance, the third largest party in the Knesset, appears to have split over the Islamic faction s demand that right-wing allies be considered Last week, the Joint List – Israel’s majority Arab political party – celebrated its fifth anniversary. And days later it split up over seemingly insurmountable tensions. Sources within the four majority Arab parties that made up the Joint List alliance cited lawmaker Mansour Abbas’ divergence from the alliance’s policy of non-cooperation with the Israeli right as the main reason for division. It is not clear, however, that the breakup is permanent, or if other configurations of the alliance will emerge by Thursday, when official party lists are closed. ....
Joint List MK Sami Abou Shahadeh, on September 25, 2019. (Hadas Parush/Flash90) Joint List Knesset member Sami Abou Shahadeh won the leadership of the Arab nationalist Balad faction Saturday night, beating out incumbent Mtanes Shihadeh, who has led the party in the last three elections. Abou Shahadeh won 230-159 in a vote by the faction’s central committee. According to internal party rules, Shihadeh is now ineligible to be on the party’s slate in the March election. Abou Shahadeh entered the Knesset in October 2019 as part of the Joint List alliance of four majority-Arab parties. A resident of Tel Aviv-Jaffa, he previously served on the city’s municipal council as a Balad representative, even joining mayor Ron Huldai’s ruling coalition. ....