The Joint List in the 20th Knesset: Impact on Arab discourse and Jewish-Arab relations in Israel
In the 2015 general elections, the Joint List won 80% of the Arab vote, earning 13 seats in the Knesset and becoming the third largest party in the 20th Knesset. Now that the Knesset has been inaugurated and a government coalition formed, the newly merged party is embarking on an unprecedented path in Arab political history in Israel.
How might this new presence in the Knesset influence discourse in Israel’s Arab society and between Jewish and Arab citizens in the country? What issues is the Joint List expected to prioritize? What are the major internal and external challenges to the List’s ability to leverage its numerical strength?
On May 18th Ariel Ben Solomon, Middle East correspondent for the Jerusalem Post, and Dr. Thabet Abu Ras, Co-executive Director of the Abraham Fund Initiatives, joined us for an insightful discussion.
About the speakers:
Ariel Ben Solomon is the Middle East Correspondent for the Jerusalem Post, covering regional developments and Israeli Arab issues. He is also a PhD candidate in Middle Eastern Studies at Bar-Ilan University, having completed his M.A. in the same field at Tel Aviv University. His research has focused on the ideologies of Hezbollah and Hamas, and Arab society and culture. Previously, Solomon was an assistant researcher at the Moshe Dayan Center for Middle Eastern and African Studies think tank at Tel Aviv University. His research there focused on radical Islam, Libya, and Sudan.
Dr. Thabet Abu Rass, Co-Executive Director of the Abraham Fund Initiatives, is a political geographer and a lecturer at Sapir College. Previously, he served as Negev branch director of Adallah – the Legal Center for the Rights of the Arab Minority in Israel. In that capacity he dealt with advancing the rights of the Arab-Bedouins of the Negev. Over the past few years, Abu Ras has also served as Co-Chairman of the board of Hand in Hand, an NGO for Jewish-Arab education in Israel. In his previous positions Abu Ras was Director of Shatil’s Negev Branch and Director of the “Abu Basma Project,” a joint project by the New Israel Fund and JDC-Israel for the advancement of the newly recognized Bedouin villages in the Negev.
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