The March 2015 election campaign in Israel was significant for its influence on Arab politics. The familiar talk among Arab politicians about the need for unity in order to realize the electoral potential of Arab voters was translated into reality when for the first time a joint list of the main Arab parties took part in the elections. The formation of the Joint List was a function of internal political constraints, caused by the higher electoral threshold required under new legislation for Knesset representation. The rise in the electoral threshold reflected an unspoken sentiment in the Israeli establishment toward the Arab minority, designed to drive the Arab minority out of the national political arena while simultaneously attempting to integrate it in the national economy as part of the government effort to increase the GDP.
