Democratic List for Israeli Arabs

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The Democratic List for Israeli Arabs (Hebrew: רשימה דמוקרטית לערביי ישראל‎, Reshima Demokratit le-Aravey Israel) was a political party in Israel.

[edit] History

The party was formed prior in 1951 in order to fight the elections for the second Knesset in the same year. Like other Israeli Arab parties at the time, it was associated with David Ben-Gurion's Mapai party, as Ben-Gurion was keen to include Israeli Arabs in the functioning of the state in order to prove Jews and Arabs could co-exist peacefully and productively.

It is likely that the party was formed from the remnants of the Democratic List of Nazareth, the only Israeli Arab party in the first Knesset, as the new party contained one of the two MKs that had represented the Democratic List of Nazareth in the previous session, Seif-El-Din El-Zubi. However, evidence for this is only circumstantial.

In the 1951 elections the party gained 2% of the vote and won 3 seats, which were taken by El-Zubi, Masaad Kassis and Jabr Moade. Because of their association with Mapai, they were included in all the coalition governments of the second Knesset.

In the 1955 election, the party lost support and dropped to two seats, with Moade losing out, though the party remained part of the governing coalition. Towards the end of the session, El-Zubi left the Knesset to become Mayor of Nazareth, Moade replacing him.

The party disbanded after the 1959 elections in which it failed to gain a seat. Moade joined the Cooperation and Brotherhood party and reappeared in the Knesset after the 1961 election. El-Zubi returned to the Knesset in the Progress and Development party (which Moade also later joined) in the 1965 elections.