KHASHAM ZANA, Israel – A new school in portable buildings, a paved road that reaches only half of the village, and a sign in Arabic, English and Hebrew are the only signs of recent improvements in the Bedouin village of Khasham Zana in southern Israel. .
Like many other Palestinian Bedouin villages in Israel, it has existed for decades without state recognition of land ownership claims, leaving residents there constant risk demolition of houses and without basic infrastructure or services.
Last year, when an independent Arab party, Raam, made history as the first to join an Israeli ruling coalition, it pledged to address the plight of these peoples.
But when the Prime Minister’s government Naftali Bennett collapsed in June, precipitating Israel’s fifth national elections on Tuesday in less than four years, Raam and his leader, Mansour Abbas, had kept some of their election promises.
And in places like Khasam Zana, the impact was minimal.
Raam’s inclusion in the government was welcomed by many Palestinian citizens of Israel who saw it as an important step in securing their rights.
But now, many Palestinian-Israeli voters say yes disappointed.
Some wonder how realistically they can benefit from a political compromise in a parliament that passed a controversial law four years ago that enshrined the right to national self-determination as “exclusive to the Jewish people” rather than all Israeli citizens.
Both the Palestinians and the Israeli centrists and left have condemned the law as such racist and undemocratic, and has been criticized by the European Union and human rights groups, including Human Rights Watch.
Tuesday’s election for the 120-seat parliament, or Knesset, they could have a record turnout among Israel’s millions of Palestinian voters who hold Israeli citizenship.
They represent about 17 percent of the country’s likely voters, but a public opinion poll in early October for Israeli public television’s Arabic-language channel Makan found that less than 40% of Arab voters expected to participate in elections.
“The frustration is at an all-time high, perhaps because we tried to join the government and nothing has changed,” said Mirvat Abu Hadoba-Freh, 33, a former high school civics teacher who is now pursuing a PhD in awareness. politics. communities, including Palestinians.
“In this election, I have heard educated people say they have had enough. They don’t feel there is anything encouraging them to vote, “she said.
Although the majority of Israel’s Palestinian citizens are in favor of integration and greater participation in the government, voter turnout has been on a downward trend over the past decade, said Khalil Shikaki, director of the Palestinian Center for political research and Encuestas, a poll center. organization in Ramallah.
“More and more people are saying what’s the point of participating if nothing changes, in essence,” he said.
“Obviously it is not fair to judge what Mansour Abbas and his party have done in just one year, but it is what people have to follow and people’s assessment is that it was not worth it,” he added, referring to the leader of Raam. . .
Raam’s green campaign banners hang along the entrance to Khasham Zana village, bearing several slogans that play on the campaign theme of being closer to the pulse of the road.
“Closer to being effective,” says one.
“Closer to fighting racism,” says another.
The largely conservative Palestinian communities in the Israeli Negev are a stronghold of Raam and helped bring the party into office last year.
But Abu Hadoba-Freh says Raam’s short term in office has helped put Palestinian voters in the perspective of what can realistically be achieved.
“We as Arab voters can send our leaders to the Knesset, but we don’t know if it will have a big impact,” he said.
“It can affect local budgets and services, but things like that discrimination against the Arabs, this is impossible to change unless the country changes ”.
Raam promised to gain official recognition of Khasham Zana and two other villages, which are home to Bedouin, once semi-nomadic Palestinian communities, and said he also intended to prepare a plan to tackle dozens of other unrecognized villages in the desert of Khartoum, the Israeli Negev.
But it did not happen, and other improvements have been made in a city where, apart from the school and the semi-finished road, there is no other infrastructure.
Although power lines run along the edges of Khasham Zana, there is no state-supplied electricity and residents have to rely on solar power.
There is no sewer or garbage collection.
The running water comes from tanks and pipes installed by the residents themselves.
Abu Hadoba-Freh hails from another unrecognized village, Wadi Samara, where residents face house demolitions and have to rely on themselves for almost all services, including installing solar panels for electricity.
He voted in the last four elections. But he wonders if this time he will vote again.
Even before Raam, more and more Palestinian voters were starting to question his participation in parliament, said Mansour Nasasra, a professor of politics at Ben Gurion University of the Negev, mainly because there has been no progress on other key issues important to the Palestinians. including the increase in violence within the Arab community and the increase in police attacks and raids on holy sites.
These reserves only increased with one ruling Arab party, he said.
Bennett’s coalition government needed Abbas and his party to form a coalition, hailed at the time as a sign of national unity.
But some Palestinians say they don’t feel they have enough for one of their parties to join the government.
“The number of Palestinians killed has increased. The number of demolitions housing increased in the presence of Abbas. The number of raids and closures of Al Aqsa has increased in the presence of Abbas, “Nasasra said, referring to the Al Aqsa Mosque in Jerusalem, the third holiest site in Islam.
“And Abbas couldn’t tell not a word from”.
Dr Kayed al-Athamen, a hematologist and leader of the Khasham Zana community who supports Raam, acknowledges that little has been achieved in the past year.
But he still encourages his compatriots to vote.
He said he explains to them that political compromise is a long game and that they cannot be discouraged because the first Arab party in power did not have the success they hoped for.
“We will not resolve the Palestinian cause in the Knesset,” he said.
“But if we have four or five MPs, we can move forward in terms of services.”
Al-Athamen, 43, also points to the idea that even if some Palestinians are not motivated by progress, they could still vote due to the potential negative consequences of walking away from the polls.
These elections could see a political return of Benjamin Netanyahu, the right-wing prime minister who left office last year on corruption allegations, and bring even more radical figures to government, namely Itamar Ben-Gvir, a far-right legislator.
If the turnout exceeds 50%, it would constitute an important electoral bloc that could help decide what the future government will look like, al-Athamen told the people.
This could include keeping Ben-Gvir out of government, he said.
“If not, then it will be a government for Netanyahu and the situation for the Arabs will be even worse,” he said.
c.2022 The New York Times Company
Source: Clarin
