Palestinians of various political factions slammed Islamist Ra'am party leader Mansour Abbas for his recent favorable statements about Israel.

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"Israel was born a Jewish state, that was the decision of the people, and the question is not: What is the identity of the state? It was born this way, and it will remain this way," Abbas said in an interview with Channel 12 News on Tuesday.

Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas, who repeatedly refused to recognize Israel as a Jewish state, expressed anger over the statements.

"These irresponsible statements are consistent with the calls of extremists in Israel to displace the Palestinians and harm the status of the blessed Al-Aqsa Mosque and the history of the Palestinian people," he said in a statement, according to Palestinian news site WAFA. 

"Mansour Abbas, with such statements, represents only himself, and does not represent the Palestinian people at home and everywhere in the world," he said. 

The Palestinian leader's Fatah party released their own statement of condemnation as well.  

The Palestinian Liberation Organization Executive Committee – consisting of representatives of several Palestinian factions – expressed "strong condemnation and denunciation" of Abbas' statements.

The Palestinian People's Party condemned Abbas saying, the position "represents a cheap alignment with the Zionist narrative and its goals based on uprooting and displacing our people," WAFA reported. 

Hamas released a statement as well, saying it "​​is a clear violation of the Palestinian national consensus that rejects and denounces the Zionist claims."

Even fellow Arab MK Ahmad Tibi told Arabic-language Nas Radio that Abbas made "a major political mistake. When you say that Israel is a Jewish state, you are actually accepting the Zionist narrative and cancelling the Palestinian narrative."

This past summer, Abbas made history when he became the first Arab party leader to join a coalition government. The so-called "change" coalition government unseated Benjamin Netanyahu after 12 years as Israel's longest-serving prime minister.

From his position within the governing coalition, Abbas successfully pushed to increase funding for the Arab sector to tackle rampant crime and economic and social problems. The recently approved state budget includes $10 billion for the Arab sector to those ends.

i24NEWS contributed to this report. 

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Mansour Abbas' meeting with Jordan's King Abdullah II in Amman did not touch on efforts to reach a peace deal with the Palestinians, the Ra'am party leader said, contradicting the Jordanian leader's claim in an interview with Israel Radio, Thursday.

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"I chose to behave in a stately manner and talk about the political process in Arab society. To say the meeting is part of a diplomatic process? Never happened," Abbas said.

The Tuesday meeting was held at Abbas' request and with the approval of Prime Minister Naftali Bennett.

The Jordanian Royal Palace said in a statement that Abdullah and Mansour Abbas discussed "the latest developments in the Palestinian territories and ways to advance the peace process." The king restated his commitment to a two-state solution to the decades-long Israeli-Palestinian conflict.

The Ra'am leader also commented on reports of his party's alleged Hamas ties.

"There are no ties. We in the Islamic Movement have been operating for decades according to Israeli law, and we have supervision. If there was something unusual or illegal, everyone would know. The report I set a killer up with an attorney – fake news."

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The head of the Islamist Ra'am party in Israel's governing coalition met with Jordan's King Abdullah II in Amman on Tuesday, the latest sign of warming ties between the two countries.

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The meeting was held at Abbas' request and with the approval of Prime Minister Naftali Bennett.

The Jordanian Royal Palace said in a statement that Abdullah and Mansour Abbas discussed "the latest developments in the Palestinian territories and ways to advance the peace process." The king restated his commitment to a two-state solution to the decades-long Israeli-Palestinian conflict.

Abbas's office confirmed that he met with the Jordanian leader in Amman but provided no additional details.

According to senior Ra'am officials, the two discussed Israel-Jordan ties as well as regional issues.

Abbas and his four-seat party made history in June by becoming the first Arab party to join a ruling coalition, enabling Prime Minister Naftali Bennett to form a government and oust longtime leader Benjamin Netanyahu.

Since the inauguration of Israel's new government in June, Bennett has prioritized mending fences with neighboring Jordan. In September, President Isaac Herzog met Abdullah in the Jordanian capital less than two months after Bennett met Abdullah in secret.

The two countries signed a peace accord in 1994 and share close security ties, but recent years saw relations sour over Israeli policies toward the Palestinians and frictions at the contested Jerusalem holy site known to Jews as the Temple Mount and Muslims as the Noble Sanctuary.

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Israeli police on Saturday arrested four Arab security guards suspected of assaulting police officers in the Arab town of Kfar Qasim the previous day.

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The detainees are part of the town's security forces, known as Al-Hirasa, which belong to the Islamic Movement, tasked by the municipality with monitoring city hall and patrolling surrounding areas.

On Friday morning, two Israeli police officers responded to a report of violent altercations at the city hall compound. As they attempted to enter the facility, they were accosted by Al-Hirasa members and the incident quickly turned violent.

From a video of the incident that was widely shared online, it appears that the officers were kicked and repeatedly punched in the face, after trying to use an electric taser against one of the guards, who appeared unfazed.

The Kafr Qasim municipality issued a statement denouncing the incident, saying it condemned any attack on police officers "doing their job."

The incident took place amid a spike in violent incidents in Israel's Arab sector.

According to Channel 13 News, MK Walid Taha of the coalition's Ra'am party had himself been involved in forming the Al-Hirasa group. Taha did not comment.

Prime Minister Naftali Bennett on Saturday condemned "violence in Arab society" which he said had "reached an intolerable point."

He tweeted: "We will fight it with all our strength. I expect the Arab community, which has been asking the state to intervene, to give police officers full backing and support."

Likud MK Nir Barkat on Saturday night said: "The attack on the police in Kfar Qasim is very serious and indicates a loss of deterrence. I know up close the sacred work of the police from my tenure as mayor of Jerusalem and in general – and we must give them backing. Israel is a state of law and we must not agree to the existence of armed phalanxes in the Arab sector," Barkat said.

"It is inconceivable that law enforcement is afraid to enter Arab communities that operate like in the Wild West and which raise a hand against the security forces and police. Decisive action and the use of an iron hand that will restore law and order in all parts of the State of Israel, and will put an end to lawlessness and the loss of deterrence, is required."

Israel Police Commissioner Yaakov (Kobi) Shabtai said following the attack: "We will not ignore the incidents of violence against police officers, such as what occurred in Kfar Qasim. I have instructed the district and regional command to act with determination and force and to detain anyone who took part in the event, and we will place at their disposal any resources and forces they request."

Public Security Minister Omer Barlev described the private security guards from the Al-Hirasa group as a "local militia," adding that "the suspects who were arrested and anyone who thinks he can lift a hand against those in uniform will be brought to justice."

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MK Mansour Abbas, chairman of the Ra'am party, said Saturday he'd spoken to Shabtai to "express unequivocal condemnation" of the attack on officers and to wish those injured a speedy recovery. He "stressed the obligation to abide by the law" and called for increased cooperation between police and the Arab citizenry "so that we can defeat crime and burgeoning violence in Arab society."

In August, Prime Minister Naftali Bennett unveiled a plan to fight crime in Arab-Israeli towns and communities.

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A survey by the Maagar Mochot research institute for Israel Hayom found that if elections were held today, the Likud would remain the largest political party, garnering 29 Knesset seats. Yamina would improve its standing to garner nine seats compared to its previous seven, while New Hope would fail to pass the electoral threshold. Yamina's two additional seats would come from supporters of New Hope and Yaron Zelekha's Economic party, the latter of which failed to make it into the Knesset in the last election.

The coalition, which has focused its efforts on maintaining a stable political system, would likely gain one Knesset seat if elections were held today, according to the survey, for a total of 62 seats. The opposition, however, which has been actively working to topple the coalition, was predicted to lose a seat, making it even more difficult for it to form a government without Yamina.

According to the Maagar Machot survey, Bennett still has a lot of work to do to convince Israelis he should be Israel's leader.

Just 14% of respondents said he was suited for the role of premier, far less than the 28% who said Yesh Atid leader and Prime Minister-designate Yair Lapid was a good fit for the job. Eight percent of respondents said Defense Minister and Blue and White party chief Benny Gantz was well-suited to the role, while 4% said they preferred New Hope leader Gideon Sa'ar.

A plurality of respondents, 46%, said Opposition Leader Benjamin Netanyahu was the most suited for the premiership.

Twenty-one percent of respondents either provided other names or declined to answer.

Among Yamina voters, just 11% said Bennett was the best suited for the job.

The survey also examined how voters feel about Ra'am becoming the first Arab party to join an Israeli coalition.

A majority of respondents, 56%, said they were unhappy or very unhappy about the development, while 27% were undecided. Just 17% of respondents said they were pleased or very pleased by Ra'am's joining the coalition.

Among Ra'am voters, however, 53% said they were "OK" with the party serving in the coalition, while 47% said they were pleased. Thirty-six percent of Joint Arab List voters said they were not happy about Ra'am joining the government, compared to the 28% who said they approved of the move.

A majority of Yamina voters, 68%, did not approve of the development.

As for the government's handling of the coronavirus pandemic, 29% ranked it as "fair," while 12% said it was "poor," and 24% described it as "very poor." By contrast, 27% of respondents gave the coalition high marks on the pandemic.

Although Bennett has tried to present the coalition as more rightward-leaning than the previous government, just 7% of respondents agreed with his assessment. A quarter, 25%, said it was centrist, while 33% described the government as left-wing. Thirty-five percent said the government was a good balance between Right, Left, and center.

Bennett's argument also appears to have failed to move Yamina voters. Just 6% said they would describe the coalition as right-wing.

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Naftali Bennett is a weak prime minister. That isn't the opinion of a political commentator or publicist or the findings of an analysis of his personality or behavior, it is simple mathematical fact. As a prime minister from a party that garnered just six Knesset seats, Bennett has zero flexibility and no room for political maneuvers.

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Those who needed proof got some on Saturday when Bennett quickly capitulated to the Islamist Ra'am party's demands to transfer the Authority for the Development and Settlement of the Bedouin in the Negev from the Prime Minister's Office to the Welfare Ministry. On Saturday morning, Ra'am MK Waleed Taha tweeted that "Ra'am lawmakers will not take part in committee discussions and will not vote for laws in the Knesset plenum until further notice." Just a few hours later, Ra'am's demands had been reportedly met in full, with the Welfare Ministry made responsible for the authority, effective immediately.

Why was this demand so important for Ra'am? At this stage, one can only guess. It may be easier to conduct affairs from within the Welfare Ministry, a relatively inconsequential office, instead of a large and central body like the Prime Minister's Office.

Moreover, there are claims various municipal officials of local authorities in the Negev may be more amenable to working with Welfare Minister Meir Cohen and his Yesh Atid party.

While this is only conjecture, one thing is clear: This move was of utmost importance to members of the Islamic Movement. We can assume Ra'am party members were not motivated by a desire to increase governance and law enforcement in the Bedouin community.

The Authority for the Development and Settlement of the Bedouin in the Negev was established over 20 years ago. It constitutes a sort of government within a government for Bedouin in the Negev and serves as an operational body aimed at transferring the Bedouin population to permanent communities, managing very large development projects to the tune of millions of shekels.

To many, this is an anachronistic body that maintains a different status for the Bedouin, distinguishing them from the rest of Israeli citizens, thereby creating civil distortion and that should therefore be shut down. Nevertheless, for as long as it continues to exist, the authority is an incomparable cash cow. Ties with the authority offer many opportunities for various agreements on construction, regulation, freezing enforcement, and in connection with the overflowing budgets the state provides. Ultimately, the disappointing data is clear: In every year of its existence, the authority has succeeded in "regulating" a handful of Bedouin families, if any. But nothing will get in the way of the money the government continues to pour into the authority.

Ra'am's threat of a parliamentary strike worked, and they got what they demanded. This time around, it may have been the result of an agreement signed upon the establishment of the government. However, the moment such extortionate ties are established, there is no reason for things to end here. The demolitions and enforcement are already frozen in practice, and one doesn't need too much imagination to see where this is headed. Ra'am has learned a simple lesson: The Bennett government gives in to pressure. Protection works, and Bennett will be made to pay increasingly more as time goes by.

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The Northern Branch of the Islamic Movement and its two sub-branches, the Murabitun and the Murabitat, were outlawed in Israel in 2015. The 17 non-profit organizations and institutions nationwide that were connected to the Northern Branch – located in, among other places, Umm al-Fahm, Jaffa, and Rahat – closed and their bank accounts were frozen. Security officials presented the political echelon with supposed proof that the Northern Branch and its satellites had become an arm of Hamas, a dangerous one that was busy with incitement, and even causing marginal harm.

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But now, the Northern Branch of the Islamic Movement has found a back way in. Absurdly, the people helping it are its rivals, members of the Southern Branch of the Islamic Movement, currently represented in the governing coalition by the Ra'am Party. For years, the "southerners" maintained contact with their outlawed colleagues. Now, following a spate of rioting in mixed Jewish/Arab cities, and investigations into and arrests of many members of the Northern Branch and its leaders, the Southern Branch is giving them public backing.

For a long time, the two branches – with have their roots in the Muslim Brotherhood movement – shared an ideology: the establishment of a Muslim society under Sharia law and an Islamic government under a caliphate. But they espoused different paths to that goal. The Northern Branch saw the state of Israel as an illegitimate entity, undermined it, and boycotted its institutions, while the Southern Branch wanted to integrate into the country and its institutions – and now the government and the coalition, and promote the local interests of Arab Israelis.

Now the two branches are moving closer to each other, with encouragement from Turkey, Qatar, and Hamas, which Ra'am leader Mansour Abbas said last week in an interview to the daily paper Al-Quds al-Arabi did not intervene in his movement's affairs.

To understand the significance of the warming relations between the two branches and why it pleases Hamas, we need to go back seven years, when the Northern Branch and its leaders were inciting terrorism and violence. They also had ties to Hamas. The Murabitun, the men who defend Muslim holy sites, and the Murabitat, the women who do the save, became the Northern Branch's satellites on the Temple Mount. They had a defined role: To block and interfere with Jewish visits to the Mount, sometimes by shouting and sometimes by violence.  

From time to time, this activity inspired terrorist attacks against Jewish visitors. A system was also put in place to bus half a million Arab Israeli visitors to Al-Aqsa. At one point, the Murabitun and Murabitat planned to rent hotel rooms in Jerusalem to accommodate their people from the Galilee and the Triangle region of northern Israel, ensuring a constant supply of personnel to keep up the rioting at the Temple Mount. The wave of "lone wolf terrorism" that extended from 2014-2017 took inspiration from the Northern Branch and its two satellites, which were funded by Turkish money that carried a strong whiff of Hamas.

Back then, it took five cabinet meetings to make the decision to outlaw the Northern Branch of the Islamic Movement. The Shin Bet security agency and the Israel Police presented opposing positions. Then-head of the Shin Bet Yoram Cohen noted that there was no sense in outlawing a movement that boasted a "hardcore" membership of some 10,000. Cohen suggested taking targeted action against any operatives who could be proven to be committing crimes, and bringing them to justice. Then-Public Security Minister Gilad Erdan and Defense Minister Moshe Ya'alon told their fellow ministers that members of the Northern Branch needed to be removed from Jerusalem, its Old City, and the Temple Mount, and the best way to do that was to outlaw the movement itself. Then-Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu was convinced. Most of the cabinet ministers voted with him.

A clear division of labor

Six years later, it's hard to tell the difference between the activity in Jerusalem of the Northern Branch-Hamas and that of the Southern Branch of the Islamic Movement. Then and now, the ideological and sometimes financial umbrella is supplied by Turkey and Qatar. The unofficial division of labor between Hamas and the two branches of the Islamic Movement is clear – both the Northern and Southern branches are taking the "dawa" approach of disseminating ideology and winning hearts and minds through education. This is being done through vast amounts of money that goes to fund summer camps, educational institutions, loans, and various civil needs, not to mention refurbishing mosques.

The military leg, Hamas, tries from time to time to carry out terrorist attacks. In the first five months of 2021, over 50 such attacks were thwarted. Hamas has also not given up on the new equation it's trying to create in Jerusalem: quiet in the south in exchange for "successes" in "Al-Quds." In its negotiations with Israel, Hamas is still demanding that Israel freeze Jewish settlement in the Shimon HaTzadik (Sheikh Jarrah) neighborhood, where Jews come under attack on a nightly basis, and put a stop to Jewish visits to the Temple Mount.

A video put out by the Southern Branch portrays Jewish worshippers being ousted by an Arab crowd that roars, "Through spirit and blood we will redeem Palestine," while switching a Hebrew sign that reads "Jerusalem" for an Arabic one that says "Al-Quds." Madeline Issa, one of the best-known Murabitat activists from the Southern Branch, who has been ordered to keep away from the Temple Mount a few times after harassing Jewish visitors there, has become a source of pride for the movement's leaders. Mansour Abbas even issued her a commendation. The Southern Branch – or more accurately, its Al Aqsa Foundation – has taken over responsibility for bussing Arab Israelis to the Mount, which the Northern Branch used to do.

Meanwhile, operatives from both branches board the buses. While protests were taking place daily at Damascus Gate leading up to Operation Guardian of the Walls, many of the participants who arrived in the city were from the Northern Branch. At other times, Southern Branch members have been more prominent. Only last week, Sheikh Hamad Abu Dabas, head of the Southern Movement, headed a delegation that visited deputy leader Sheikh Kamel Khatib, who is under indictment for allegedly inciting to terrorism and who even praised Arab rioters who murdered Jews in the riots of 1929. Abu Dabas, who also serves as head of the Shura Council, which allowed Mansour Abbas and Ra'am to join the Bennett-Lapid government, congratulated Khatib on his release from jail and called for unity and solidarity among members of the Islamic Movement in Israel.

The two branches also cooperated on an event in memory of Mohammed Morsi, the late Egyptian president and Muslim Brotherhood member, who helped Hamas in Gaza. According to a tweet by Michael Milshtein, head of the Palestinian Studies Forum at the Moshe Dayan Center for Middle Eastern and African Studies at Tel-Aviv University, the event took place in the village Arara under the title "From Wounded Palestine to Captive Egypt."

'The entity that will collapse'

The two senior religious leaders who were behind the incitement during the rioting against Jews in Lod and Acre and who are identified with the outlawed Northern Branch are the imam of the Grand Mosque in Lod, Sheikh Yusuf Al-Baz and imam of El-Ramal Mosque in Acre, Sheikh Mahmoud Madi. Al-Baz, the better-known, has already described Israel as an enemy state and said that Hamas' fighters are a symbol for him. He has also blessed terrorists, supported a civil uprising against the state which "is not the state of the Arabs of Israel," and recently shared on Facebook a violent movie scene in which a man is stopped by two traffic cops and murders them brutally. Alongside the video, Al-Baz wrote: "The best way to handle injustice."

Al-Baz also hosted in Lod the former mufti of Jerusalem, Sheikh Ikrama Sabri, a man aligned with Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan, Hamas, and the Northern Branch in east Jerusalem. Sabri arrived in Lod to express his identification with and strengthen Lod's Arab residents, and warned that "there is a need to battle Judaization of neighborhoods and theft of the Muslims' civilization."

His less well-known colleague from Acre, Madi, called the rioters arrested "our youth who are battling the enemy," and in the spirit of the Hamas directive, talked at length about the need to take part in the battle for Al-Aqsa and Sheikh Jarrah. Madi, like Al-Baz, thinks that Arabs should boycott Israeli elections, does not recognize the "Zionist entity," but he does support coexistence in Acre. He thinks that Israel's repeated elections indicate a rift in the Zionist entity, which is confused and destined to collapse.

Israeli security officials think that both sheikhs contributed to the recent wave of rioting in which Jews in Lod and Acre came under attack by local Arabs, but also note that members of the Southern Movement, who might feel a sense of competition with the Northern Branch, are not keeping their fingers out of the pie. Mansour Abbas visits a protest tent set up after Khatib was arrested.

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The Southern Branch, through its Al-Aqsa Foundation, recently called on the public to donate hundreds of thousands of shekels to pay a fine handed out for illegal construction in Beit Zafafa and Jerusalem that would prevent the homes from being demolished. The Southern Branch has paid fines for Sheikh Abdul Azim Salhab, head of the Waqf's donations council, which he incurred for violating COVID restrictions. The Southern Branch not only organizes transportation to the Temple Mount, but also busses Arabs from all over Israel into Acre to help Arab business owners recover after Jews stopped buying from them due to the rioting.

The Southern Branch has even set up a foundation to provide legal counsel to Arabs under arrest for rioting. Mohammad Mahmid, chairman of the directorship of the Southern Branch in Jaffa, took part in a protest in the city during the riots. Protesters were urged to "liberate Jaffa through spirit and blood." Sheikh Mohammed Salameh Hassan from the village Reineh, one of the leading religious authorities of the Southern Branch, recently wrote that "The people of Palestine are united form the river to the sea until the occupation disappears entirely," and that "until the struggle succeeds … to secure the desired results, action must be taken wisely and reasonably, considering the circumstances, the time, and the arena, and every person must be active in his own way according to his own circumstances, energy, and abilities."

Lt. Col. (res.) Dr. Shaul Bartal of Bar-Ilan University, an expert on Palestinian affairs and Islamic fundamentalism, recently raised the question to what extent Ra'am, which is rooted in the Muslim Brotherhood movement and has a history of battling Zionism and Israel, is willing to forgo its religious and national goals and make due with municipal achievements, especially in light of the inevitable clash between Israel and Hamas, which he called "Ra'am's sister movement."

Money to the 'Arabs inside'

Bartal published an article in which he quoted former MK Ibrahim Sarsour (Ra'am-Ta'al), currently a member of the Shura Council. Sarsour made it clear that Ra'am taking part in the Knesset election did not negate its ideology, according to which control of the land "must be Muslim, under a caliphate." Bartal even noted that the movement's newsletter As-Sirat until recently positive coverage of Hamas along with anti-Israeli and antisemitic remarks.

Another important player who is helping shape the relationship between Israel, Hamas, and the two branches of the Islamic Movement is Qatar. The Qataris, who have moved closer to Egypt in the past few months, have become not only mediators between Israel and Hamas but also a sponsor that is buying Israel quiet by paying Hamas $30 million every month.

The Qatari issue is being reexamined, partly due to an anti-Israel conference Qatar hosted in Doha during the 11-day campaign against Hamas in the Gaza Strip, while the US and Egypt were still trying to broker a ceasefire. The conference, whose content is being published by MEMRI, hosted thousands of participants and witnessed calls in praise of the casualties, jihad, and armed struggle against Israel.

Many people spoke in Doha, including head of Hamas' politburo Ismail Haniyeh. Posters of Hamas bombmaker Yahya Ayyash, who is credited with conceiving the idea of suicide attacks in Israel, were waved. Haniyeh dedicated his speech to "our people who inside the 1948 territory, the ones who defend Al-Aqsa and rise up against the occupation and the settlers," spoke about "The collapse of the theory of coexistence in Lod, Ramle, Rahat, and other places," and praised Qatar's contribution to the Palestinian issue.

For years, Qatar has been pouring money to the people termed in Doha "Arabs on the inside" (Arab Israelis), mostly for civil and community purposes in the spirit of dawa. At first, Qatar did so via the Northern Branch, and in recent years has been investing in various projects promoted by Ra'am and the Southern Branch. Ra'am No. 2 MK Mazen Ghanaim, former mayor of Sakhnin, secured a Qatari donation for the Sakhnin soccer club, and when he was in Qatar he met with former MK Azmi Bishara, who fled Israel after the 2006 Second Lebanon War under suspicion of having aided Hezbollah.

According to one security official who spoke with Israel Hayom, there is a need to keep extremely close tabs on the Turkey-Qatar-Hamas axis as well as the two branches of the Islamic Movement in Israel. The same official said that recently, the ban on the outlawed Northern Branch's activities has not been fully enforced. However, officials from the Southern Branch are facing trial for their part in the rioting in mixed cities. The Southern Branch, the official explained, even took part in the political game and for the first time joined the governing coalition, is still playing both sides and should also be followed closely, but with greater sensitivity than in the past.

The official quoted Mansour Abbas, who said in an interview last week that his movement "has not given up its religious, national, or civil principles at all."

As far as Turkey and Qatar's involvement with the two branches of the Islamic Movement goes, the official said that "this is a matter for the political echelon" to decide, while the question of the ties between Hamas and the Islamic Movement's branches in Israel he sees as based in ideology and identity, and less of a practical nature, such as the ones that used to exist between Hamas and the Northern Branch.

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Islamist Ra'am party leader Mansour Abbas came under criticism for Arabic-language remarks he made ahead of a vote on a new coalition, Sunday.

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Speaking outside the Knesset, Abbas said he would work "to reclaim the lands that were expropriated from our people. This is a national cause of the first degree."

Islamist Ra'am party leader Mansour Abbas rejected criticism of the new government headed by Prime Minister Naftali Bennett and Prime Minister-designate and Foreign Minister Yair Lapid from right-wing and ultra-Orthodox parties, as well as the Joint Arab List.

Speaking briefly in Hebrew, Abbas said it was time for the new Israeli government and the opposition to advance "dialogue between Jews and Arabs so that we understand each other and do not see each other as enemies."

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"We belong to different religions and communities, but there is something that connects all Israelis, it is our citizenship," he said, calling to strengthen dialogue between Jews, Arabs

Abbas, who made history as the leader of the first Arab party to serve in a coalition government, expressed hope "ties between the Jewish and Arab communities" would strengthen.

This article was first published by i24NEWS.

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Palestinians in the West Bank and Gaza Strip have mostly dismissed a change in the Israeli government, saying the Yamina party chief due to replace Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu would likely pursue the same right-wing agenda.

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Naftali Bennett, a former head of the Yesha Council, the umbrella organization of Jewish localities in Judea and Samaria, is set to become Israel's next prime minister under a patchwork coalition deal struck on Wednesday.

On Thursday Bennett placed much of the blame for the conflict on the Palestinians.

"The truth must be told: The national struggle between Israel and the Palestinians is not over territory. The Palestinians do not recognize our very existence here, and it would appear that this will be the case for some time," he told Channel 12 News.

Speaking before Bennett's latest remarks Bassem Al-Salhi, a representative of the Palestine Liberation Organization, said the prime minister-designate was no less extreme than Netanyahu, adding: "He will make sure to express how extreme he is in the government."

Similar sentiments were voiced elsewhere.

"There is no difference between one Israeli leader and another," said Ahmed Rezik, 29, a government worker in Gaza. "They are good or bad for their nation. And when it comes to us, they are all bad, and they all refuse to give the Palestinians their rights and their land."

Hamas, the Islamist terror group that controls Gaza, said it made no difference who governs Israel.

"Palestinians have seen dozens of Israeli governments throughout history, Right, Left, center, as they call it. But all of them have been hostile when it comes to the rights of our Palestinian people, and they all had hostile policies of expansionism," Hamas spokesman Hazem Qassem said.

In what would be a first in Israel, a governing coalition is set to include an Islamist party elected by members of Israel's 21% Arab minority.

Ra'am party leader Mansour Abbas said the coalition agreement would see more than 53 billion shekels ($16 billion) invested in improving infrastructure and combating violent crime in Arab towns.

"He is a traitor. What will he do when they ask him to vote on launching a new war on Gaza? Will he accept it, being a part of the killing of Palestinians?" asked 21-year-old Gazan Badri Karam of Abbas.

Bennett has been a strong advocate of annexing parts of Judea and Samaria. However, in his first public remarks on the issue in recent days, he appeared to propose a continuation of the status quo, with some easing of conditions for Palestinians.

"My thinking in this context is to shrink the conflict. We will not resolve it. But wherever we can [improve conditions] – more crossing points, more quality of life, more business, more industry – we will do so."

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A senior Hamas official in the Gaza Strip denounced Ra'am party chairman Mansour Abbas for signing onto a coalition agreement with Yamina party chief Naftali Bennett and Yesh Atid head Yair Lapid.

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Mousa Abu Marzouq, deputy chief of Hamas' politburo, said: "The new coalition will be more radical than the previous right-wing coalition. Abbas Mansour represents no one but himself, after providing cover to the stew that poisoned the victory of our people 'inside' [Israel]" for Jerusalem and the Al-Aqsa Mosque, he said.

On Twitter, Abu Marzouq bragged that the last round of fighting between Israel and Hamas had led to the end of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's time in office.

"Our people's firm stance against recent aggression was the straw that ended Netanyahu's future and prison now awaits him," he tweeted.

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