Its decision whether or not to participate in a coalition could be crucial for the formation of a government in Israel.

Mansour Abbas, head of the United Arab List (RAAM in Hebrew), called Thursday April 1 for a new "reality" in the country's divisive culture.

"It is time to create a different reality for all the citizens of this country," said the head of the small Islamist group, in a statement in Hebrew from the Arab city of Nazareth (northern Israel).

The broadcast of his speech, live at prime time by several Israeli television channels, illustrates the weight of the head of the United Arab List in the Israeli political landscape after the legislative elections of March 23, in which his party entered in Parliament by winning four seats.

>> To read also: "Mansour Abbas, an Islamist at the heart of the Israeli legislative elections"

"I don't want to be part of a right or left bloc," Mansour Abbas said.

"I am in a different bloc, the bloc which elected me to serve my people and which gave me mandate so that the requests of the Arabs, which for years were only requests, become a real program of work. . "

Mansour Abbas, 46, called himself a "proud Arab and Muslim" on Thursday and, citing passages from the Quran, referred to his campaign themes, namely crime, food shortage and housing problems plaguing him. Israel's Arab minority, which represents 20% of the country's population

Open to negotiations with both camps

No Arab party has ever participated in a governing coalition in the Hebrew state, and it takes going back to the 1990s for an Arab party to support such a coalition.

Mansour Abbas said he was open to negotiations with the camp of Benjamin Netanyahu but also with that of the various parties wishing to oust the Prime Minister from power but having ideologies sometimes at odds with each other.

At the end of the legislative elections of March 23, the fourth in less than two years, Benjamin Netanyahu's Likud came in first place with 30 seats out of the 120 in Parliament, followed by the Yesh Atid formation of his rival, the centrist Yair. Lapid, with 17 seats.

In the lead, the Prime Minister's party is however far from the 61 seats necessary for the formation of a government and even if Benjamin Netanyahu managed to convince his rival of the right-wing coalition Yamina, Naftali Bennett, to support him, this key figure does not. would not be achieved either.

Likud must therefore seek other support.

>> To read also: "Israel: Naftali Bennett, the nationalist leader on whom the future of Benjamin Netanyahu depends"

Israeli President Reuven Rivlin said on Monday that he would appoint a candidate by April 7 to form the next government.

He previously intends to meet from April 5 with party leaders to determine who will have the best chance of being able to form a coalition.

With AFP

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