The Israeli Election from a Palestinian Perspective: An Interview with Writer Budour Hassan

On Tuesday, April 9th, over 6 Million Israeli voters headed to polling stations to choose their next government in a race that displayed all shades of right-wing blocs in Israel. Results as of Thursday evening indicate that the incumbent Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu is leading. His main rival the Blue and White alliance led by former Chief of the Israeli army Benny Gantz, scored the same number of seats. But with most right-wing and ultra-Orthodox parties vowing to ally with Netanyahu, Gantz conceded the race even before the end of vote counting. Pundits have mourned the Israeli left, predicting perhaps what could really be the final nail in the coffin of the two states solution. With a total of 65 seats out of the 120 in the Israeli Parliament (the Knesset) Netanyahu is now expected to form what is considered “the most right-wing and ultra-Orthodox government Israel has ever seen”. In the lead up to the election, Palestinian citizens of Israel were engaged in a heated debate over whether they should participate in the election- Although eligible to vote, many decided not to. Others voted in an attempt to block the rise of the Zionist far right. To get a better understanding of what was going in the Palestinian community inside Israel, Mira spoke with Budour Hassan. She is a Palestinian writer and legal researcher at the Jerusalem Legal Aid Center in Jerusalem.