Ra'am leader Mansour Abbas made Israeli political history Wednesday by signing an agreement that will for the first time see an Arab party join a government.
"We hope that it will work and that a government will be established after four rounds of elections," he told reporters at a Kfar Maccabiah in Ramat Gan.
Abbas also said he had agreed with the new government on a number of policies and budgets relating to the Arab sector.
"We have reached a critical mass of agreements in various areas that serve the interests of Arab society and provide solutions to its burning problems — planning, the housing crisis and, of course, combating violence and organized crime,” he said.
According to a recent statement by the Islamist party, Yamina head Naftali Bennett and Yesh Atid leader Yair Lapid promised Ra'am NIS 2.5 million ($769,547) to tackle the rampant violence and organized crime in Arab society.
In addition, NIS 20 million ($6,156,839) will be invested over the next 10 years to repair crumbling infrastructure in Arab towns and villages.
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(L-R) Yesh Atid head Yair Lapid, Yamina leader Naftali Bennett and Mansour Abbas signing a coalition agreement late Wednesday
(Photo: Nawaf al-Nabari)
Abbas's party — the political wing of the southern branch of Israel's Islamic Movement — split from Israel's main Arab coalition, the Joint List, before the March 23 election after advocating that it will work with Netanyahu and other right-wing factions to improve living standards for Arabs.
Even before Ra'am announced signing, Yair Lapid's nascent coalition was widely seen as the most ideologically diverse in the country's history, uniting left- and right-wing parties to notably oust Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu from power.
To get there, Bennett and Lapid agreed to a rotation plan, with the former becoming prime minister for the first two years.
The government-to-be is still pending a Knesset vote of approval.