Palestinians in the Occupied Interior After the Election: 19 Seats Between the Joy of Representation and Fears for the Future

The results of the Israeli Knesset election have not dispelled the anxiety felt by Palestinians in the occupied interior, despite the Joint List and the United Arab List (Ra'am) winning 19 seats, a result that strengthened a sense of pride at the higher turnout while at the same time opening the door to anticipation over whether this parliamentary presence will translate into political change reflected in the lives and rights of the Palestinians of 1948.

Not Decisive

While residents in towns of the occupied interior celebrated the rise in voter turnout, their conversations remained haunted by fears over crime and violence, mounting racism, and the prospect of another Benjamin Netanyahu government. The seats won by the two lists give them weight in the political calculations, but they do not settle the shape of the next government or guarantee a response to the demands that drove many people to vote.

Partial results showed Netanyahu's camp winning 53 seats, against 48 for the opposition camp led by Gadi Eisenkot, while the remaining 19 seats were divided between the two Arab lists.

These figures place the two lists in an influential position in the government formation talks, should the opposition camp move toward cooperating with them, amid anticipation of the final results and the course of political consultations.

In Majd al-Krum, where turnout reached 85 percent of eligible voters, young people and elders celebrated the high participation until late into the night. But the festive atmosphere did not end the questions about what will come after the election, especially since many of the demands that concern residents are tied to their daily security, their standing and their rights, not to parliamentary representation alone.

The testimony of Nidal Ghamra, from Umm al-Fahm, reflects part of the feelings that accompanied this election; he said the campaign atmosphere this time was marked by unity, and that the final hours before the polls closed saw a happiness Palestinians had missed for years.

Although he spent years boycotting the elections and calling for a boycott over his disappointments with Knesset members, he cast his vote this time out of fear of rising racism and the right-wing political trajectory.

Bashir Manna, 26, expressed pride in taking part, stressing that the rights of Palestinians must be equal to those of Jews, citing the example of the rights of a Palestinian student compared with the Jewish student studying beside him. These demands reflect that, for voters, parliamentary representation is inseparable from their aspirations for equal rights and opportunities.

A Bet on Change

But the bet on change runs into the complexities of forming a government; although the seats of the two Arab lists could be decisive in tipping the balance toward the opposition, the positions of a number of its parties, which refuse to cooperate with them, leave the future of this role unsettled. This adds to the state of anticipation among voters who hope to keep Netanyahu's government out, but do not yet know whether the results will open the way to an alternative government.

In Umm al-Fahm, the demands do not stop at political change; residents hope the next government will provide greater resources to confront the crime and violence that have claimed the lives of hundreds of Palestinians in the occupied interior in recent years. According to the Abraham Initiatives association, more than 140 people were killed during the first half of this year.

Activist Mahmoud Zayhoun, 83, said the killings recur daily, criticizing what he described as the absence of sufficient measures to confront them. Zayhoun linked his fears for the future to the continuation of Netanyahu's government and of ministers Itamar Ben-Gvir and Bezalel Smotrich, warning that their stay in power could deepen the threats facing Palestinians, and expressing his fear of a repeat of the Nakba.

For his part, Palestinian political analyst Ahmed Zakarneh saw that a change of leadership in "Israel" does not necessarily mean a change of policies toward the Palestinians, although the higher representation of the Joint List could give it an influential role in the government formation calculations, if the parties of the change camp accept cooperation with the Arab lawmakers.

Zakarneh explained that the possible difference between the current government and any future one may be limited to curbing some policies, including settlement expansion and annexation in the West Bank, and the way the situation in the Gaza Strip is managed, without that meaning a fundamental shift in the position on Palestinian rights. He stressed that the Israeli security preoccupation will remain present even if the composition of the government changes.

Zakarneh warned that possible understandings between Benjamin Netanyahu and parties from the change camp could lead to the formation of a broad government that excludes the Arab parties, which makes the influence of the 19 seats tied to the nature of the coming alliances, not to the number of seats alone.

Unlikely Calculations

He added that the government formation calculations may also be affected by the US administration's desire for a coalition able to deal with its regional projects, including resuming discussion of the normalization agreements, considering that any changes in the composition of the government do not necessarily mean a radical change in its policies toward the Palestinians.

Between the joy of the results and the fear of their consequences, the eyes of Palestinians in the occupied interior are on what the political negotiations will bring. The two Arab lists winning 19 seats strengthened their parliamentary presence, but left the fundamental questions hanging: Will these seats translate into actual influence in forming the government? Will the broad participation be reflected in the files of crime, equality and rights? Or will the voters' hopes remain hostage to the parties' calculations and their positions on political partnership with their representatives?