Three of the Arab parties, Hadash, Balad and Ta'al, held a meeting tonight (Sunday) that capped a series of intensive consultations in recent weeks, with the aim of removing the final obstacles and announcing the re-establishment of the Joint List.
The three parties declared ideological and political agreement on the central issues, and sent a clear message to Ra'am, led by Mansour Abbas, that they are ready to run as a technical bloc.
The central point of contention in the talks remained the inclusion of Ra'am. In their statement the parties referred openly to the complexity in dealing with MK Mansour Abbas, who adopts a pragmatic line different from that of the other factions.
"We would like Ra'am to also be a partner in the political agreement, but we are aware of significant gaps between our positions regarding the character and course of the Joint List," the statement said. "Despite this, and in recognition of the importance of unity in the face of existential dangers, we expressed willingness to reach an agreement with Ra'am on the basis of a technical joint list for the elections."
A technical bloc, under the Israeli system, would run only a single ballot, but not necessarily maintain any agreements after the party has been allotted its seats in the Knesset. This prevents splitting the vote between component factions and potentially losing seats from both parties. Officials close to the parties say that the chief goal of the technical bloc, if realized, is to maximize their strength at the ballot box and to significantly raise voter turnout in Arab communities.