Amjad Shbita, secretary-general of Hadash, said Ra'am prevented the formation of a united Arab slate for the Knesset election. In an interview with the Arab-Israeli TV channel Hala TV, he said Mansour Abbas rejected efforts to create a shared political platform and insisted on a technical list only.
According to Shbita, the Arab public in Israel wants unity among the parties, regardless of how the slate is structured. He said Abbas, the chairman of Ra'am and a member of Knesset, was the only one who insisted on a technical Arab list.
Shbita said Abbas was offered a joint political platform for the alliance, but he turned it down and demanded that Ra'am keep independent political freedom after the election. He added that the other Arab parties agreed to a technical joint list in line with Ra'am's demand, but wanted a common platform as well, with each party free to act separately after the vote.
Shbita said Abbas argued that running on a joint list and negotiating together could hurt his legitimacy in the eyes of the Naftali Bennett and Avigdor Lieberman camp.
