The Illusion of Empowerment and the Dilemma of Survival: A Gaza Reading of the Knesset Elections and the Dualism of "Joint List" and "United Arab List"

A Gaza-based reading of the Israeli electoral landscape concludes that betting on change through the Knesset is betting on a structural mirage. The article examines from the Gaza Strip the split between the Joint List and the United Arab List, and raises a fundamental question about the implications of the absence of comprehensive unity among the components of the Arab movement in Israel. The article argues that the Israeli Knesset is a colonial Zionist structure established to eliminate Palestinian existence, not to grant it legitimacy for change.

This article presents a critical reading from the Gaza Strip of the Israeli electoral landscape, focusing on the split between the Joint List and the United Arab List. It concludes that absolute reliance on change through the corridors of the Knesset is a bet on a structural mirage, as it views the Israeli Knesset as a colonial Zionist structure established to eliminate Palestinian existence, not to grant it legitimacy for change. The article draws on the experience of the 2021 elections and the harsh turning points that followed, raising a fundamental question about the implications of the absence of comprehensive unity among the components of the Arab movement in Israel. It notes that Palestinians in the Gaza Strip follow the scene from behind the rubble of genocide and the ongoing siege, and that there is a deep and objective understanding of the nature of the existential obsession governing the lives of Palestinians inside Israel, with their daily struggle against the systems of segregation, systematic racism, and the Israelization of Palestinian communities. However, this human understanding does not translate into support for the parliamentary mechanism, as there is a prevailing academic, national, and empirical conviction in Gaza that electoral participation is a purely tactical tool for defending space.