Three of the four Arab-majority political parties reiterated their readiness to form a joint electoral list ahead of the upcoming elections, and called on the fourth, the Islamist Ra’am, to join the effort even though its officials have declined to take part in recent consultations.

The appeal from Hadash, Ta’al, and Balad on Sunday came after months of deadlock in negotiations to revive the four-party Joint List slate. The slate first formed in 2015 and split up in 2021 after Ra’am, headed by Mansour Abbas, broke away from the other parties to join the short-lived coalition led by then-prime ministers Naftali Bennett and Yair Lapid.

The slate collapsed altogether ahead of the 2022 elections when the nationalist Balad pursued an ultimately unsuccessful solo run, leaving the remaining two parties to form the joint Hadash-Ta’al list.

In a joint statement on Sunday, Hadash, Ta’al, and Balad said that they “would want Ra’am to also be a partner in the political agreement, but we are aware of significant gaps in positions between us relating to the nature and path of the Joint List.”

The statement appeared to be a reference to Ra’am’s declared openness to joining a governing coalition following the election, which no other Arab party has done for decades.

But Hadash, Ta’al, and Balad added that due to “existential dangers” Arab parties are facing, they nevertheless wanted to include Ra’am in an agreement to form a new Joint List in order “to strengthen........

© The Times of Israel