Arab Center analyzes prospects for an effective Arab Joint List in Israeli elections

Arab Center of Washington D.C. Executive Director Khalil Jahshan has authored an analysis of the prospects for an effective Arab Joint List in the upcoming Israeli elections.

Jahshan writes that the three Palestinian Arab Parties in Israel announced that they would run on one “joint list” in the upcoming Israeli parliamentary elections to be held in October 2026.

Jahshan writes:

“The idea of a unified Palestinian Arab list is not new. Indeed, similar attempts were made to unify the Arab vote in the 2015 and 2020 parliamentary elections.

Arab Center of Washington D.C. Executive Director Khalil Jahshan

“Today, 82 percent of Arab citizens of Israel favor a unified (or joint) list—a sentiment that party leaders ignore at their peril. The underlying goal of the joint list is to rally Arab political support behind a common electoral agenda of protecting the civic and political rights of Israel’s approximately 2.1 million Arab citizens (21 percent of the population), whose interests, aspirations, and deep sense of alienation are generally ignored or taken for granted by Jewish parties.

“These Arab citizens are not only part of the struggle against the protracted Israeli occupation of Palestinian territories and the creeping annexation of the West Bank; they are also horrified by the genocide in Gaza and by the epidemic of violent crime in Arab society.

“The prevalent Palestinian Arab perspective holds that Netanyahu is disastrous for the whole region—including for Israel itself.”

Khalil E. Jahshan is a Palestinian American political analyst and media commentator. He serves as Executive Director of Arab Center Washington DC. Between 2004 and 2013, he was a Lecturer in International Studies and Languages at Pepperdine University and Executive Director of Pepperdine’s Seaver College Washington DC Internship Program.

Previously, Jahshan served as Executive Vice President of the American-Arab Anti-Discrimination Committee (ADC) and Director of its government affairs affiliate, National Association of Arab Americans (NAAA)-ADC.

You Can click this link to read the entire analysis:

https://arabcenterdc.org/resource/prospects-for-an-effective-arab-joint-list-in-israel/