The Palestinians in Israel and the 2006 Knesset Elections: Political and Ideological Implications of Election Boycott

Abstract

The percentage of those boycotting in the last Israeli elections forms, from our perspective, the most important general development in Israeli politics, and specifically in the political behaviour of the Palestinians in Israel. This article is an in depth analysis of the meaning of this development and its meanings for the Palestinians in Israel and their future. We believe it is important to present this study as an introduction to the situation of the indigenous Palestinian community in Israel,and their tendency to rethink their present and future political options.Our conclusions may contradict the claim which has been and is being presented by Israeli and Palestinian researchers that the Palestinians in Israel have decided their future as Israeli citizens a long time ago.

Two states for three peoples: the ‘Palestinian-Israeli’ in the Future Vision Documents of the Palestinians in Israel

“…Against this backdrop, Palestinian politics in Israel have witnessed three major developments since 2000: (1) a gradual decline in Palestinian participation in Israeli Knesset elections (forty-four per cent did not vote in the 2006 elections, and forty-seven per cent did not vote in 2009); (2) Palestinians who did vote, tended to prefer Palestinian parties (seventy-two per cent in 2006, and seventy-five per cent in 2009); and (3) a dramatic decline in Palestinian support for Jewish parties (fifty-two per cent in 1992 compared with twenty-five per cent in 2009) (Ghanem and Mustafa 2007). Taken together, these shifts express a lack of trust in the effectiveness of Israeli parliamentary politics as a vehicle for collective action and social mobility, through which Palestinian leadership could influence and demonstrate achievements via institutionalized Israeli politics.…”

The Palestinians in Israel: The Challenge of the Indigenous Group Politics in the ‘Jewish State'

“…It was adopted by various political and nationalist powers. 50 There was also a search for solutions outside the parliamentary struggle and new schools of thought emerged in an attempt to move from the ignition stage to the launching stage, a move from the theoretical stage to the practical stage. This lead to an embrace of the concept of a shared homeland, albeit one that is not established on the basis of a Jewish state, while simultaneously exploring the impact of the Nakbah on the Palestinian condition in Israel as an integral part of the Palestinian case.…”