GIL SEDAN
Jewish Telegraphic Agency
JERUSALEM -- The first Israeli Arab to run for prime minister of the Jewish state is getting little support from the nation's Arab establishment.
Azmi Bishara is making history by running in the May 17 elections. But his fellow Israeli-Arab politicians are concerned that his campaign to become premier may help the one candidate they want to lose the race -- Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.
Theoretically, Israeli-Arab voters could not ask for anything more than to have one of their own represent their interests by running for prime minister.
Just the same, the leaders of the two leading Israeli Arab parties -- Hadash, a formerly Communist party, and the United Arab List -- have called on their followers not to vote for Bishara.
While some observers maintain that this opposition is motivated by political jealously, the Arab parties say they are concerned that Bishara's candidacy may damage the chances of Labor Party candidate Ehud Barak to unseat Netanyahu.
In the 1996 election, about 95 percent of Israel's Arab electorate voted for the then-Labor candidate Shimon Peres. This time around, the Arab vote is being courted by Barak and Yitzhak Mordechai, the leader of the new Center Party, known in Hebrew as Mercaz.
Netanyahu, a political realist, would settle for the same 5 percent of the Arab vote that he received in 1996.
If none of the candidates wins a clear majority, there will be a runoff vote June 1 between the two top vote-getters.
According to opinion polls in recent weeks, the gap between Netanyahu and Barak is marginal.
The Israeli daily Ma'ariv published over the weekend the combined result of several polls involving 4,400 respondents and came up with a by-now familiar result: Netanyahu receives 36 percent of the votes in the first round, Barak gets 35 percent, with 10 percent of the voters still undecided.
In other words, every vote -- including those from the 1 million Israeli Arabs -- will count.
Moreover, if Mordechai and Ze'ev "Benny" Begin, who is running for prime minister as the leader of a right-wing coalition, drop out of the race -- as some pundits predict may happen -- Netanyahu could be elected in the first round of voting.
Israeli-Arab leaders are hoping that Bishara, too, will drop out of the race -- a move that would bolster the chances of Barak and Mordechai.
Interestingly enough, Bishara has already indicated that he may do just that -- "if there are very good reasons," the 43-year-old said.
Bishara, 43, knows full well what his prospects of winning are nil.
Still, he views his candidacy as a vehicle to help his fellow Arabs.
"I am simply trying to use my political weight to attain civil rights" for Israel's Arab population, said Bishara. "I am not asking for privileges, but rather for obvious rights."
Born in Nazareth, Bishara was attracted to communist ideology. After studying in Berlin during the 1980s, he became a professor of philosophy at Bir Zeit University in the West Bank.
After abandoning his communist leanings, he was elected to the Knesset in 1996 as the head of an independent ticket, a-Tajamu-Balad, Arabic for the National Democratic Alliance.
If he does decide to withdraw from the race, it will only be after he has sought commitments for his constituency from some of the other candidates, particularly from Barak, who is likely to draw most of the Arab vote.
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