ABSTRACT
Why were the results of the 2003 elections in the Arab sector so relatively uneventful after such massive protests, even rebellion, on the part of Israel's Arab citizens? After all, even by Israeli standards, dramatic suspense should have characterized Israeli Arab voting in the 2003 general parliamentary elections. It was the first parliamentary election held since the outbreak of the al-Aqsa intifada in which Israel's Palestinian citizens for the first time participated in their thousands in intense and sustained multi-locational violence over several days — so the rebellion was dramatic in terms of timing. For the first time in the history of the state, Israel's Arab citizens embarked on a wave of violence at the very same time the Palestinian Authority effectively orchestrated an insurgence against Israel that brought the Oslo peace process to an end. Nor did Arab feelings against the system and possibly against the Jewish majority seem to die down, judging from the Israeli Arab boycott of the 2001 elections for the office of prime minister between the two candidates, Ehud Barak and Ariel Sharon. An irreparable divide that confirmed the worse prognosis of radicalization seemed to be suggested by the Arab turnout at the polls — approximately 18 per cent of eligible voters compared to 70 per cent on average in the past four elections — coupled with feelings that Jews were effectively boycotting Arab businesses long after violence between the two populations subsided.
