Arab voters in Israel will support Barak and Shahak, says legislator

LONDON, Jan. 18 (JTA) — More than 90 percent of Israeli Arab voters will support Labor Party leader Ehud Barak or centrist candidate Amnon Lipkin-Shahak in Israel’s May elections, according to an Israeli Arab Knesset member. In an interview with the London-based daily newsletter Mideast Mirror, Azmi Beshara added that Israeli Arab voters should extract a price from the two candidates for their support. Israeli Arab leaders, representing a constituency that comprises 13 percent of the Israeli electorate, should negotiate with Barak and Shahak on a range of issues, including the civil rights of Israeli Arabs and the future course of the Middle East peace process, Beshara said. A member of a communist party known as Hadash — Democratic Front for Peace and Equality, Beshara said Israeli Arab support for Barak and Shahak would hold in case a runoff vote for prime minister needs to be held on June 1. He also told the Mideast Mirror that he thought Barak would probably win more Israeli Arab votes than Shahak in the first round because the Labor candidate is better organized and better placed to win the community’s support. In terms of policy, however, he said it is difficult to distinguish between Barak and Shahak because the two appear to be running virtually identical campaigns. “I call them Pepsi against Coke,” said Beshara. He predicted that Israeli Arab parties, which currently have nine Knesset seats, would get an additional one or two seats as a result of the May 17 vote.