Former Arab Knesset Member Talab el-Sana said Thursday that he plans to submit a new Arab list to Israel’s Central Election Committee.

El-Sana told Ma’an that “there is outrage amidst the Arab population in general and in the Negev in particular as they believe the joint Arab list has been unjustly structured in an attempt to liquidate a deep-rooted party, the Arab Democratic Party.”

The negotiations about the joint Arab bloc were a “conspiracy” to eliminate political rivals, he claimed.

The decision to form a new Arab list was made after founder of the Arab Democratic Party, Abed al-Wahhab Darawsha, joined an Arab bloc as a member of the Ta’al, or Arab Movement for Renewal, party led by Ahmad Tibi.

Secretary-general of the Arab Democratic Party, Mahmoud Muwasi, submitted his resignation on Thursday.

“For several years I have been preoccupied with thoughts that joining the Knesset is a waste of time and effort as it scatters possible collective efforts of the Arab population in Israel,” he said.

“Now it has been confirmed that I was completely right after a joint Arab list had been composed and I saw how people were competing for seats as if they were dividing booty, and so I came to a conclusion that political work through the Knesset is helpless.”

Four Arab parties — United Arab List, Ta’al, Balad and Hadash — joined together to form a bloc to run in the Israeli March elections.

It is the first time parties representing Palestinian citizens in Israel have joined forces.

Although the majority of Palestinians were expelled from their homes inside Israel during the 1948 conflict that led to the creation of the State of Israel, some Palestinians managed to remain in their villages and their descendants today make up around 20 percent of Israel’s population.

(Ma’an – www.maannews.net)