Naif Zaidani
The New Arab / August 20, 2026
Three Palestinian parties have revived the Joint List ahead of Israel’s October election, aiming to boost Arab representation and unseat the far right.
Three Palestinian parties inside Israel have formally launched a joint electoral list ahead of the 27 October Knesset election, reviving a unity formula they hope will strengthen Palestinian representation.
The Democratic Front for Peace and Equality (Hadash), the National Democratic Assembly (Balad) and the Arab Movement for Change (Ta’al) announced the three-party Joint List late on Wednesday.
The alliance was announced amid what the parties described as difficult circumstances and pressing challenges facing the Palestinian community inside Israel, which they said required them to put aside their differences and unite.
The Joint List will face several challenges, including rebuilding public confidence, confronting the Israel “propaganda machine”, and setting out a clear programme addressing the needs and concerns of the Palestinian community.
In a joint statement, the three parties said the alliance had broad public support and was formed in recognition of the “fascist and racist” threats targeting their existence, rights and causes.
They said confronting those threats required the broadest possible political and electoral unity.
The parties said their aim was to turn their collective electoral weight into stronger representation in the Knesset, defend Palestinian rights and transform the will of their supporters into a political force capable of removing what they described as a “fascist right-wing government” whose project was based on “discrimination, war, aggression, demolition and crime”.
“Our unity is our strongest weapon,” the Joint List said, adding that unity was essential to securing collective national and civil rights, continuing the struggle for change and a just peace, and ending the occupation.
The parties called on Palestinians to close ranks, rally around the Joint List and mobilise for the electoral battle.
The list will be headed by Professor Yousef Jabareen of Hadash, followed by Arab Movement for Change leader Ahmad Tibi and Balad chairman Sami Abu Shehadeh.
Under the agreement, Hadash will take the first, fourth, sixth, seventh and tenth positions among the top 10 places. The Arab Movement for Change will take second and ninth place, while Balad will hold the third, fifth and eighth positions.
The alliance is aiming to win at least 10 seats, a target that will require a significant mobilisation of Palestinian voters inside Israel.
It will compete for Palestinian votes with the United Arab List (Ra’am), led by Mansour Abbas, which could include Zionist figures among its candidates.
Balad deputy secretary-general Yousef Tatur said his party had sought the broadest possible unity from the outset and had worked seriously to achieve it.
“From the first day, our position was clear that we wanted the broadest possible unity for the forces of our people,” Tatur said in a statement.
He said Balad had made the concessions necessary to reach an agreement, not in pursuit of narrow party interests, but because of the gravity of the current moment and the responsibility facing all the parties.
“The time for negotiations is over and the time for the field has begun,” Tatur said.
“We are approaching a decisive election, perhaps one of the most important and dangerous electoral battles we have fought in many years.”
Tatur pointed to Israel’s continuing genocide in Gaza, displacement in the occupied West Bank, the practices of the occupation and its attacks in Jerusalem, as well as violence and crime inside Palestinian communities.
These challenges, he said, were “bigger than the calculations of parties and seats”.
Tatur said the election was taking place at a moment that would determine much about the future of the Palestinian people and community.
“We are facing a stage that will determine many of the features of the future of our people and our society, in the face of a fascist right that seeks to deepen racism, exclusion and persecution, and amid unprecedented challenges facing our people wherever they are,” he said.
“Our responsibility from this moment is to turn unity into a real force on the ground,” Tatur added, calling on the alliance to reach every city, village, neighbourhood and home, rebuild trust and hope, increase voter turnout and mobilise Palestinian voters to achieve the strongest possible political and electoral result.
“We have turned the page on our differences because our people are bigger than our differences, and we have united our ranks because this stage can accept nothing less,” he said. “Now the real battle begins.”
Naif Zaidani in Haifa
