Attempt to oust Benjamin Netanyahu

For years Arabs have been effectively marginalised in Israel's political life. But at the weekend leaders of the country's substantial Arab minority launched an alliance which puts them on course to become a powerful force in next month's general election – with the potential to tip the outcome against the Prime Minister, Benjamin Netanyahu.

Five previously fractious political groupings that divided the Arab vote between them agreed to field a single "Joint List" with the aim of toppling the Israeli leader, whom they blame for a further deterioration in their own standing and conditions, and for harming fellow Palestinians in the West Bank and Gaza.

"We are no longer investing our energy in defeating each other; on the contrary we are joining our forces to grow bigger and bigger," said Aida Touma, a socialist and feminist from the Hadash party who shares prominence on the list alongside such others as Masoud Ganaim, an Islamic fundamentalist.

Such an alliance was previously unthinkable because of ideological and personal rivalries. But Arab leaders judged it imperative after the Israeli parliament, the Knesset, changed the law raising the threshold for a party to enter parliament from 2 per cent of the overall vote to 3.25 per cent.

For smaller parties, it was either join together or die. The alliance also answers the demands of Arab voters for a united legislative effort, and its formation has raised hopes for a degree of empowerment and change.

Arab citizens, who are the descendants of Arabs who were not displaced during Israel's creation in 1948, make up about 20 per cent of Israel's population but their Knesset representation has always been markedly smaller, due to fragmentation of the vote and a lower turnout than among Jewish Israelis.

According to a poll last week by Maariv newspaper, Mr Netanyahu's Likud party is on course to secure 24 seats in the 17 March election and his Labour party-led challenger, the Zionist Camp, is likely to win 23. The Joint List is forecast to secure 13 seats, which would make it the third-largest grouping in parliament, and list leaders have set their sights on 15, which would be four more than the separate Arab groupings held in the previous Knesset.