Hadash-Ta’al, Balad sign deal to re-establish Joint List weeks ahead of Israel's election

The agreement is pending final approval by the three parties, with an official announcement expected in the coming days after negotiations over the framework appeared to reach a breakthrough.

Hadash, Ta'al and Balad signed an agreement on Wednesday to run together in the upcoming election, reviving the Joint List after weeks of negotiations and internal disputes.

On Tuesday night, Ta'al chairperson MK Ahmad Tibi withdrew his opposition to a framework proposed by the "Reconciliation Committee," which was tasked with reuniting and restructuring the Joint List. The assessment among those involved says all sides ultimately compromised to complete the alliance before the official deadline for submitting candidate lists at the beginning of September.

The agreement signed by the three parties remains subject to formal approval by their respective institutions, and an official announcement is expected in the coming days. Accordingly, Ta'al's party committee is expected to decide on Wednesday to convene the party's general council.

Last Sunday, the committee presented its proposed framework, but Tibi opposed it and left the meeting. The following Saturday, the secretariats of Hadash and Balad met separately, and both announced their support for the proposal.

Earlier this week, Hadash's Prof. Yousef Jabareen and former MK attorney Osama Saadi, a close associate of Ta'al chairman MK Ahmad Tibi, met privately over coffee. Sources familiar with the negotiations described the meeting as positive, and on Tuesday evening Ta'al reportedly signaled that Tibi was prepared to accept the framework he had rejected the previous week.

As part of the arrangement, Tibi is expected to receive the position of chairman of the Joint List parliamentary faction, the post of Deputy Speaker of the Knesset, and membership on a prominent committee such as the Knesset Finance Committee.

The breakthrough reportedly centered on the reserved slot for Ta'al's second representative. Under the current framework, that candidate is assigned the ninth position on the list, and Ta'al had pushed aggressively to improve that placement, at one stage nearly causing the negotiations to collapse. According to the emerging agreement, and unsurprisingly, Saadi is expected to be Ta'al's second candidate. However, the sides have not yet reached a final understanding on all outstanding issues.

According to the proposed framework, the candidate list would be:

Prof. Yousef Jabareen (Hadash)
Dr. Ahmad Tibi (Ta'al)
Sami Abu Shehadeh (Balad)
Jaafar Farah (Hadash)
Bakr Awawdeh (Balad)
Dr. Ofer Cassif (Hadash)
Youssef Atawna (Hadash)
Dr. Maha Karakbi (Hadash)
Ta'al candidate
Dr. Nahaya Washahi (Hadash)
Hassan Nasasra (Balad)
Ta'al candidate
Iyas Nattour (Hadash)

Election poll showed Joint List, Segalovitz with Ra'am would give Arab faction combined 14 Knesset seats

A Maariv poll published last Friday examined a scenario in which Hadash, Ta'al and Balad unite on a single list while Yoav Segalovitz is placed second on Ra'am's slate. Under that scenario, the united Arab list would win eight seats, while Ra'am would increase its representation to six seats, giving the Arab parties a combined total of 14 Knesset seats.

In the same scenario, Eisenkot's Yashar party would fall to 22 seats, Likud would receive 20 seats, and Bennett's B'Yachad party would win 13 seats. Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's coalition bloc would decline to 47 seats, the Zionist opposition would hold 55 seats, and Zionist Home-The Reservists would remain at four seats.