Israel’s Jewish political parties in opposition to the Netanyahu government (with one exception) have repeatedly reconfirmed their position that after the elections to be held sometime in 2026, they will not form a government that includes Israel’s Arab political parties. This is an amazing statement made in a country that presents itself as a democracy. More than 20% of Israelis are Palestinian Arabs.
Can you imagine an American or European politician stating that they would refuse to be part of a government that included political parties of a minority group on the basis of their identity? What kind of a country can define itself as a democracy and openly declare the political exclusion of a large minority group of citizens based on their ethnicity, religion, or national identity?
How would these Jewish-Israeli politicians feel if they were in the shoes of leaders of the Palestinian Arab community of Israel? Would it be acceptable to them if the Jewish minority in the US or the UK were excluded politically on the basis of their identity? Of course, in those countries, it probably wouldn’t even be legal to form a political party based on ethnicity, religion, or national identity.
These opposition Jewish-Israeli political parties and their leaders present themselves as those working to stop the extremists who have been legitimized by Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, but they have adopted the same language used by the right-wing and religious extremists in the current government. Even two previous prime ministers, Yair Lapid and Naftali Bennett, use the same language and adhere to the same racist terms and a distorted interpretation of democracy.
Those who honestly seek to replace the right-wing government have to understand that the key to victory is through Jewish-Arab political cooperation. Moreover, they need to understand that Jewish-Arab cooperation is not a temporary political maneuver to change the government but a fundamental condition for real democracy, civil equality, and shared life.
I know that genuine Jewish-Arab political cooperation in Israel and genuine equality for Israel’s Palestinian citizens will only truly emerge when Israel makes real peace with the Palestinian people. Until then, most Israeli Jews will suspect the Palestinian citizens of Israel as being more loyal to their people than to their state.
Despite 78 years of demonstrating that Israel’s Palestinian citizens are overwhelmingly law-abiding citizens and do not endanger the safety and security of the State of Israel, they are often treated by the state as enemies of the state. Very few Palestinian citizens of Israel would testify that they feel welcome in Israel or are made to feel like they are an integral part of the state.
If you ask Israel’s Palestinian citizens what they want, they will say they want full equality – in other words, they want to be full Israeli citizens. They want to live in Israel as equal citizens and be treated by their state as being part of it.
Arab Israelis as Palestinians
I am quite sure that many of the readers of this article are fuming because I have labeled the Arab citizens of Israel as Israel’s Palestinian citizens. Those who are angered by this terminology are living in denial. Many of them are probably the same people who say that there is no such thing as the Palestinian people or that Palestinian identity is fabricated as a tool to fight Israel.
Many of those who might accept this terminology are often the same people who say they could accept a Palestinian state next to Israel as long as there are very high walls and very strong fences between them and us. Many of these Israelis even consider themselves to be part of the so-called “peace camp” – a dwindling minority in Israel.
Those who live within the bounds of these distorted political ideologies need to face reality. There can be no regime change in Israel without Jewish-Arab cooperation. There can be no peace between Israel and Palestine without Israeli-Palestinian cooperation. Wishing the other people on this land away does not change reality.
More than 20% of Israeli citizens are Palestinian Arabs, and the other people we share this land with are Palestinians. The Palestinians living between the river and the sea are equal in number to the number of Jews living within the same borders.
Those who refuse to govern with representatives of the Palestinian citizens of Israel are the same people who say they never want to see a Palestinian again. If this had been said only after October 7, it might be easier to understand. But even people on the Left in Israel keep speaking about the separation paradigm (us here and them there) as the only possible road forward.
They did not and do not speak about peace. They speak about disdain and hatred toward the Palestinian people. They may or may not accept the legitimacy of Palestinian collective identity and the rights of the Palestinian people to self-determination. They may wish that the Palestinian people find their home elsewhere.
But even those who understand that the Palestinian people are not going anywhere refuse to accept the inevitable truth: Without engagement, cross-border cooperation, and mutual recognition, the two peoples who share this common homeland will never live in peace unless they open their eyes to the legitimate existence of the others on this land and extend a hand of cooperation to them.
The only paradigm of separation I can accept is when it is referred to as political separation – meaning the end of the occupation of 1967 and Israel’s control over the Palestinian people. It means the establishment of an independent Palestinian state next to Israel based on the June 4, 1967, borders.
It does not mean permanent walls and fences that aim to separate Israelis and Palestinians for decades to come. Putting Palestinians in a cage will not produce peace. Israelis and Palestinians need to understand that the only reasonable path forward for both people is to engage, to cooperate, and to develop strategies that are win-win for both peoples.
When we begin to understand that the only reasonable future for Israel and Palestine is one of cross-boundary cooperation in every field possible that will lead us to Israeli-Palestinian peace, we will also then begin to achieve full equality for all Israelis, as promised in Israel’s Declaration of Independence. Then Israel will become a real democracy, because equality for all citizens is the most important foundation of any democracy.
The writer is the Middle East director of the International Communities Organization and co-head of the Alliance for Two States.