Reality hit him in the face again and Mansour Abbas is at a crossroads after failed West Bank vote

United Arab List chair Mansour Abbas in the Knesset on 6 June 2022

Jack Khoury writes in Haaretz on 7 June 2022:

United Arab List chairman Mansour Abbas faced this week his most difficult challenge since joining Israel’s governing coalition with Naftali Bennett and Yair Lapid. His attempt to peacefully navigate a late Monday vote that threatened the government failed.

Now, he stands at a crossroads with the fate of the mission he undertook when he joined the coalition and his political future in the balance.

During the tense month of Ramadan, which ended in late April, Abbas navigated between his desire to remain in the coalition and public pressure to abandon ship following violent clashes at Jerusalem’s Al-Aqsa Mosque. Pictures from the Temple Mount weren’t to his liking, but events didn’t spin out of control. He managed to convince others that advancing the community’s economic interests within the coalition would beat the shame of staying in it.

His interests were the reason he was first to visit Meretz lawmaker Ghaida Rinawie Zoabi’s home after she announced she was quitting the coalition. He contributed significantly to ending the coalition crisis, albeit temporarily.

Abbas’ position was much more precarious Monday night with the vote on extending emergency regulations that apply Israeli law to West Bank settlers. He was already frustrated over foot-dragging by government ministries on measures benefitting the Arab community. Now Abbas had to take a position that no Arab party member had ever faced in the Knesset – being obliged to support a law perpetuating the essence of apartheid and occupation.

Long-time UAL members don’t remember ever debating this issue. Approving the regulations was perceived as almost a technical matter that always won a solid Zionist majority. However, nothing is taken for granted in the current Knesset, and the storm of the day proved again that the will of the coalition, and in particular of Abbas, to push aside national-political issues and to deal only with civil issues is an illusion. Reality rarely coincides with the plans on paper.

In the days ahead of the vote, Abbas found himself fighting the right’s battles, convincing legislators to support extending the regulations. He feared the government falling over this bill – with UAL supporting it – as liable to supply ample ammunition to his critics in Knesset and the Arab public. It would also land a fatal blow to the thesis guiding his party since the coalition’s inception.

However, UAL colleague Mazen Ghanayim did not share his position. The back-up player Abbas landed for UAL saw himself free of any organizational obligations. He decided long ago to vote against the bill, although he put off the announcement until the last minute. Contrary to Abbas, Ghanayim’s Knesset future doesn’t bother him – on the contrary, he’s convinced that every day in the rightist coalition hurts him.

Ghanayim’s move puts Abbas in an impossible situation. With coalition and government stability being important to him, the UAL chairman is committed to take action against Ghanayim. Some will demand he declare Ghanayim a defector or pressure him to resign. However, the risk is too great. Ghanayim’s vote made him the hero of the day in Arab society. His opposition to the regulations was perceived as saving face for his colleagues, enabling them to skip the vote. Abbas is the one in an inferior position. Sanctioning an Arab MK who voted against the occupation won’t be received warmly among his constituents and is liable to boomerang.

Coalition members made an empty threat by which UAL would work against Ghanayim in Sakhnin should he run for mayor. Ghanayim heard the report and laughed. “And then what, UAL will support the Hadash candidate in Sakhnin?” he asked his close associates. UAL officials actually see in the local elections a window of opportunity for another move – Ghanayim will resign from the Knesset by mutual accord and run to be Sakhnin mayor with UAL support and the other coalition members. Thus will at least one threat to the coalition be neutralized. If the Hadash candidate wins, all the better. However, a big question mark looms over this scenario. As experience has taught the coalition members, reality doesn’t always match plans on paper, and the government is living on borrowed time.

This article is reproduced in its entirety