Ramallah: After the Arab Joint List retained third place in the Israeli elections, political analysts and officials in the West Bank have argued that the list has a role to play in restraining the Jewish extremism directed against the Palestinian public in the West Bank.

“Yes they can play a role, even limited. It is time for the Palestinians of the 1948 areas and their parliamentary representatives to play a part in the reigning in Jewish fundamentalism that is totally directed against West Bankers,” said Ghassan Al Khatib, a political analyst and former speaker for the Palestinian government. “The Palestinian parliamentarians should use their weight to confront the Israeli right wing, particularly with regard to Israeli colonial activities beyond the Green Line.”

“Although we know in advance that the capabilities of the Joint List is limited in affecting the entire Palestinian cause and influencing Israelis policies (because the Likud does not need the list to form a government) the Palestinians still have hope in the list,” he told Gulf News.

“The Likud and Netanyahu have their own alliances which will facilitate the way to form the new government,” he said. “The Joint List will have tremendous political weight and can play a serious role in the opposition. It could even negotiate the formation of an Israeli government with the other Zionist camp if given the chance.”

Khatib said that given that the Joint List will have a role in the Knesset voting it can improve the basic rights of the Palestinians of the 1948 areas.

Tayseer Khalid, a member of the Executive Committee of the Palestine Liberation Organization (PLO), said the Palestinian public is confident about the Palestinians of the 1948, since they are a core component of the Palestinian nationalistic movement. “Palestinians of the 1948 areas have actively participated in all the confrontations and battles which Palestinians have waged in support of the creation of an independent Palestinian state on the 1967 borderlines. Occupied East Jerusalem is to be the capital of that state,” he told Gulf News. “We are confident that the Joint List parliament representatives will spare no effort in defending the civil, political and democratic rights of the Palestinians of the 1948 areas to secure our people there real equality with the Israelis.”