Will 2026 open a new political horizon for Palestinians? Submitted by Abed Abou Shhadeh on Mon, 12/29/2025 - 16:19 As Israel continues its policy of violent expansionism, our leadership is weak and fragmented A Palestinian man gestures towards an Israeli soldier outside the Nur Shams refugee camp, in the Israeli-occupied West Bank, on 15 December 2025 (Jaafar Ashtiyeh/AFP) On The year 2025 has not been an easy one for the Palestinian people. It saw the genocide in Gaza extend past its second year, amid ongoing settlement expansion and settler violence in the occupied West Bank. Even as millions of people around the world took to the streets in protest, Israel continued to grow its military influence, in the near-total absence of a domestic political discourse that questions state policy (beyond the narrow issue of hostages). Even the Israeli opposition - whose rhetoric is often just as violent as the coalition government’s - offered no counter-narrative for Palestinians. Once the ceasefire agreement came into effect in October and hostages began returning, the public and political discourse abruptly abandoned Gaza. Instead, Israeli society turned inwards, building a newly negotiated social contract around state identity and how state institutions are expected to operate. It is important to evaluate the situation of Palestinian citizens of Israel in this context. At the outset of the genocide , the Israeli government and society worked in tandem to monitor, suppress and silence any attempt by Palestinian citizens to speak or organise. Draconian measures were deployed: students were suspended over public statements, employees dismissed from their workplaces, and media and cultural figures arrested or publicly shamed - all measures aimed at intimidating and paralysing the population. By 2025, this was no longer understood as “just persecution”, but rather as a structural transformation of status. If once Palestinians occupied marginal political spaces where they could express dissenting positions, the genocide has led to a full collapse of that limited domain - a reaction to Israel losing its assumed military dominance. And this is not a temporary shift, but part of something much broader that transcends major sectors in Israel. Attack on voting rights A striking example comes not from the ruling coalition, but from the Israeli opposition. In October, opposition leader Yair Lapid advocated restrictions on voting rights, declaring that those who do not serve in the army should be denied a vote - a statement made with full knowledge that Palestinian citizens are not drafted. This would create a framework in which basic rights are conditional on participation in Israel’s military efforts. While the proposal emerged from the political struggle between secular and Haredi parties, it reflects a broader Israeli desire to sustain and expand its wars - an effort that requires either drafting both Haredim and Arabs to the military or national service, or stripping non-participants of rights and resources. Simultaneously, Israeli society has voiced resentment: “Why aren’t Palestinian citizens paying the price for the war as well?” The goal of unity is pursued not out of optimism, but as a survival strategy in the face of an existential threat Meanwhile, as the world watches events in Gaza with horror, the Israeli government has expanded political suppression and state-sanctioned demolition policies. Across the Negev region in southern Israel, an estimated 11,000 structures have been demolished over the past two years, including 2,500 residential homes, displacing thousands of people. At the same time, severe budget cuts have targeted Palestinians in Israel. According to the Mossawa Center , the 2025 state budget included cuts of more than two billion shekels ($626m) in funding for programmes and services in Arab communities. Such funding is desperately needed, particularly as 2025 was the deadliest year on record for Palestinian citizens of Israel: a total of 252 Arab citizens were killed in incidents of violence and crime, a rate disproportionately higher than the recorded deaths of Jewish Israelis. Israeli police, led by National Security Minister Itamar Ben Gvir, not only failed to curb this violence, but used only half of the five-year budget allocated to tackle it. These events follow a larger structural trend, in which state institutions have been weakened to the point where police appear increasingly inclined to respond to pressure from far-right social media channels, rather than to act as a public law enforcement body. Under this new model, right-wing groups monitor Palestinian digital and political activity, translate Arabic posts into Hebrew, and circulate them among far-right channels; police then interrogate, intimidate or arrest. Urgent demand The upcoming year will bring legislative elections in Israel. For Palestinian citizens, the most urgent demand is for unity among Arab political parties - not out of a belief that Israel’s political system can be “fixed”, but because they understand how dangerous the political climate has become, amid an unprecedented wave of legislation targeting Palestinians, alongside open discussions of “ population transfer ”, with polls showing that most Jewish Israelis support expelling Palestinians from the country. Adalah founder Hassan Jabareen once described a foundational image from the early years after the Nakba : Palestinians arriving at polling stations waving white flags, not out of democratic conviction, but out of fear. Rumour had it that those who did not vote would be expelled. At the time, Palestinians lived under military rule. Today’s discourse around elections is shaped by similar fears: the goal of unity is pursued not out of optimism, but as a survival strategy in the face of an existential threat. Here are the questions Palestinians must confront today to shape their future Read More » Still, Palestinian politics faces deep internal divisions. Despite the genocide and widespread incitement against Palestinians, United Arab List leader Mansour Abbas rejects unity and instead advocates for integration within the Israeli state, fighting for a place in the country’s next government. Other Arab parties that represent a national-democratic current argue that the Gaza genocide is not a temporary episode, and point to the dangers of structural shifts within Israel, including expansionism, weakened institutions, and unprecedented racism. Despite expectations that the events of the past two years would prompt a reassessment of political participation in Israeli elections, the prevailing sentiment is that Palestinians in Israel are left on their own. The Palestine Liberation Organisation continues to disregard their existence; Arab states view them merely as leverage to influence electoral outcomes; and the western world supports the idea of a “Jewish state” in a way that reinforces Jewish supremacy, even within the framework of Israeli citizenship. As 2025 comes to a close, it is impossible to understand the situation of Palestinian citizens of Israel in isolation from that of the Palestinian people and the national movement as a whole. Our leadership is fragmented, Israel is expanding, and our political institutions are weak and outdated. Still, despite repression and discrimination, 2025 also witnessed the beginnings of grassroots organisers adopting a clear national voice, holding tightly to truth and to the Palestinian people. Although the challenges remain immense, such initiatives provide hope - and the possibility of a new political horizon in 2026. The views expressed in this article belong to the author and do not necessarily reflect the editorial position of Middle East Eye. Israel's genocide in Gaza Opinion Post Date Override 0 Update Date Mon, 05/04/2020 - 21:29 Update Date Override 0