Arab satellite lists

The Arab satellite lists (Hebrew: מפלגות הלוויין הערביות) or Arab lists (Arabic: القوائم العربية) were Israeli Arab satellite parties formed for the purposes of electoral support of Mapai (and later the Labor Party), and other Zionist parties between 1948 and the mid-1970s.^[1][2][3][4] Between the 1949 elections and the 1969 elections, most of the Israeli Arab vote was divided between the communist parties Maki and Rakah^[a] and the Arab satellite lists.^[2] The time span under military rule [he] (1948–1966) was described as the "golden age" of satellite parties.^[5] According to Israeli scholar Rebecca Kook, Maki and Rakah were considered the only parties to truly represent Arab interests until the Progressive List for Peace won two seats in the 1984 elections.^[2]

Election poster of Mapai, urging Arabs to vote for its allied lists. The main slogan reads "Towards a guaranteed future with the Arab lists, allied with Mapai."

The existence of the Arab lists was partially because Arabs were barred from membership of Mapai until 1973.^[6] Unlike normal political parties, they were not active between elections.^[7] Most of the lists survived more than one term, and all were subservient to the policies of their patron Mapai.^[3] The lists were put together based on local influence, clans and religion;^[8] and consisted of local politicians and clan leaders.^[9]

According to Ilana Kaufman, the Arab lists; "were not proper parties but ad hoc electoral arrangements for the election of Arabs to the Knesset."^[10] Majid Al Haj writes that the object of the lists "was not the political mobilization of the Arab populations but rather the capture of Arab votes."^[11]

The Labor Party withdrew its support from its last satellite list, the United Arab List, prior to the 1981 elections. The Alignment, an alliance of the Labor Party and Mapam, saw its share of the Arab vote triple in the elections,^[12] whilst the UAL failed to cross the electoral threshold. Alongside the defeat of two other lists, the Christian-led Arab Brotherhood List and the more radical Bedouin-led Arab Citizens' List,^[13] the election was seen of the end of personalist Arab lists based on traditional leadership.^[14][15] The Arab Democratic Party, established in 1988 as a breakaway from the Labor Party, effectively took their place in the political sphere^[16] but they took a more critical stance towards the Zionist parties compared to the satellite parties.^[9][17]

List of Arab satellite lists

Party	Mother party		Aimed demographic	Elections, Time span
Agriculture and Development		Mapai[8]	Little Triangle[8]	1951, 1955, 1959
Arab List for Bedouin and Villagers		Labor	Negev Bedouin	1973
Arab List – The Centre		General Zionists[8]	–	1955
Arab Reform Movement		Ratz	–	1977
Cooperation and Brotherhood		Mapai, Labor	Mount Carmel Muslims and Druze[18]	1959, 1961, 1965, 1969, 1973
Cooperation and Development		Mapai	–	1966–1967
Democratic List for Israeli Arabs		Mapai[8]	Galilee[8]	1951, 1955
Democratic List of Nazareth		Mapai[8]	Nazareth	1949
Independent Faction for Israeli Arabs		Mapai	Druze and Greek Catholic[8]	1959
Israeli Arab Labour Party		Ahdut HaAvoda	–	1959
Israeli Arab List		Likud[19]	–	1973
Israeli Druze Faction		Mapai, Labor	Druze	1967–1969
Jewish–Arab Brotherhood		Labor	Christians	1968–1969
Popular Arab Bloc		Mapam[8]	–	1949
Progress and Development		Mapai, Labor	Galilee[18]	1959, 1961, 1965, 1969, 1973
Progress and Work		Mapai[8]	Druze and West Galilee[8]	1951, 1955, 1959, 1961
Peace List		Rafi	–	1965
United Arab List		Labor	–	1977, 1981
Workers Bloc		Mapai[8]	Acre, Haifa, Jaffa	1949

Elections

election results of satellite lists and other Arab-led parties

The table below shows the votes of Arab-Israelis for Arab-led political parties, Jewish-led political parties and the satellite lists:^[20]

Year	Arab parties/Maki	Arab satellite lists	Jewish parties
1949	22%	52%	26%
1951	16%	55%	29%
1955	16%	58%	27%
1959	11%	59%	30%
1961	23%	46%	32%
1965	24%	44%	33%
1969	30%	41%	29%
1973	37%	36%	27%
1977	52%	21%	27%
1981	39%	12%	49%
1984	50%		50%
1988	58%		42%
1992	48%		52%
1996	62%		38%
1999	69%		31%
2003	69%		31%
2006	72%		28%
2009	82%		18%
2013	77%		23%
2015	83%		17%
April 2019	72%		28%
September 2019	82%		18%
2020	88%		12%
2021	80%		20%
2022[21]	86%		14%