Elections could lead to a new impasse ... Israelis vote to resolve Netanyahu's fate

Voters continue to vote at a high rate in the Israeli elections that could decide the fate of the current Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, who aspires for a fourth consecutive term that enables him to implement the terms of the American peace plan by annexing large parts of the West Bank.

And after seven hours had passed since polling stations opened at seven in the local time, the participation rate exceeded 38%, and it had reached 27% in the first five hours, an unprecedented percentage since 1999, an increase of 1% over that of the second repeated elections that took place in Last September.

Voters - numbering about 6.5 million - cast their votes in about 11,000 centers, to elect their representatives from among the candidates of thirty party lists, and the ballot takes place amid fears of the spread of the Corona virus after recording ten cases of the disease.

The Israeli police mobilized about ten thousand people to protect the electoral process, and devoted a unit and a specialized agency to counter campaigns aimed at spreading rumors about the spread of the Coruna virus to intimidate voters and prevent them from voting.

These elections - the third in a year - take place amid intense competition between the extreme right and right camps led by Netanyahu, and between the blue and white alliance calculated on the center and left.

Opinion polls published a few days ago indicated that neither of them, or other partners, would achieve a majority of 61 of the 120 seats in the Knesset, enabling them to form a government, which would lead to new elections that the two camps did not want.

Netanyahu and Gantz today urged voters to vote heavily, and both count on the votes of voters who abstained in the April and September elections.

Al-Jazeera correspondent Elias Karam said that Netanyahu is targeting about three hundred thousand voters affiliated with the right and the extreme right, including the Likud party, who did not vote in the last elections.

The fate of Netanyahu
The current Israeli prime minister is betting on the current elections to achieve a victory that will prevent him - at least temporarily - from submitting to the expected trial in the middle of this month, after he was officially accused of corruption.

Al-Jazeera correspondent Elias Karam said that if Netanyahu succeeds in mobilizing hundreds of thousands of right-wing voters who did not vote in the last elections, this may allow him to guarantee a majority of 61 votes that would enable him to form a hard-line fundamentalist government without resorting to the votes of the leader of the "Israel Our Home" party What failed Netanyahu's efforts to form a government after the previous two polls.

In this context, Al-Jazeera correspondent Najwan Samri said that there is a concern in Blue and White camp that its leader, Benny Gantz, may not get another chance if he fails to defeat Netanyahu this time.

In casting his vote today, Gantz urged voters to vote and not be drawn into lies, and said he hoped change would happen, and that this day marked the start of what he described as a healing process for Israel.

Both Netanyahu and Gantz accused the other during the campaign that he was not worth the leadership.

Palestinians inside
As is the case with the voices of supporters of the right and the extreme right that Netanyahu is betting on to increase his chances, the voices of Palestinians in the Green Line are an important factor in this poll.

Representative Ahmed al-Tibi suggested that the Joint Arab List increase the number of its seats in the Knesset from 13 to 16, and he said that this would prove that the Arab voices would remove Netanyahu from the government.

The joint Arab list - which includes the four major parties for the Palestinians in the Green Line - is running in the Israeli elections amidst many challenges, and confirms that the most prominent challenges are the American peace plan, racist laws against Palestinians inside, and the spread of crime and violence, and home demolitions.

While some Arab parties refuse to participate in the elections from an ideological standpoint, as they say that they are based on the principle of refusing to grant legitimacy to Zionist institutions, observers believe that the participation of Arabs in these elections is of particular importance in light of the challenges that beset the Palestinian cause.