The Palestinian majority Joint List has set out conditions for any support towards an anti-Netanyahu minority government in a move analysts tell The New Arab reflects "the significant amount of clout" they have going into the Knesset elections, where neither major bloc polls high enough to secure a government.
Yousef Jabareen, the new head of the Joint List, said in a statement that "after the election, we'll impose our conditions on any political constellation in Israel".
"We have the full freedom of action, with no limits, to replace the Netanyahu government, and we will use all the tools at our disposal," he added, according to the Times of Israel.
As it stands, most polls conducted show that neither the bloc under Benjamin Netanyahu nor the opposition bloc under Gadi Eisenkot will gain enough seats in the election, which could mean a hung parliament and another vote months later.
This would mean that, in order to oust Netanyahu's government, an Eisenkot bloc would have to negotiate support from Israel's Palestinian parties, which are polling to have enough seats to potentially bring the bloc over the line.
"It is a reflection of the fact that Palestinian citizens and the Arab parties have a significant amount of clout because of the fracture of the current Israeli electoral landscape," Amjad Iraqi, Senior Analyst for Israel and Palestine at the International Crisis Group, said of Jabareen's announcement.
"Whether it's the joint-list or Ra'am [the second Palestinian bloc], everyone can see that the seats that the Arab parties will take will kind of decide whether a coalition can come about," he told The New Arab.
Jabareen added that any support for the anti-Netanyahu bloc would not come without conditions, saying to get support the bloc would have to create a budget and plan to deal with crime in Arab Palestinian communities, stop demolitions of family homes of Palestinians convicted of terrorism, and commit to a roadmap for a two state solution.
"These are fateful elections here, in our country, which is the only one we have," Jabareen said.
Iraqi told The New Arab that this willingness to support an Eisenkot government comes from an assessment that Netanyahu's far-right government cannot be allowed to return to power.
An Eisenkot government could "give Palestinians on both sides of the green line a bit of oxygen to breathe after the intensity of this far-right government of the past four years."
However, questions remain about whether the outlines of the Joint-List, which are consistent with previous positions, could stop Eisenkot or members of his bloc from negotiating for the support, given there is widespread rejection of a two-state solution from most Jewish Israeli parties.
Iraqi added that the Joint-List should be mindful of Ra'am, the other main Arab Palestinian party running in the election, which has been more willing to put aside Palestinian statehood in order to join coalitions.
In an environment where Jewish-Israeli politicians in the Eisenkot Bloc have ruled out working with Israel's Palestinian parties, Iraqi said that there's also a question about whether Eisenkot would bring himself to seek the support of the parties, despite what polling shows.
"It's too difficult for Eisenkot to bring himself to ally with the parties or to ensure his other Jewish-Israeli coalition partners will also sit or be allowed to be propped up by the two Arab parties," Iraqi said, adding that they could be "quite resentful that they are beholden to the bargaining of these Arab parties, whether its because of racism or because they think it's a political handicap."
In September, Israel's Central Elections Committee banned the participation of the Joint List and Ra'am, as well as candidates for the Joint List Hadash MK Offer Cassif and Balad head Sami Abou Shehadeh, with widespread consensus among Jewish-Israeli political parties. The bans were later overturnned by the Supreme Court, while Abou Shehadeh withdrew his candidacy.
Among the plethora of different options, including a hung parliament resulting in fresh elections, or a deal between Netanyahu's Likud and Eisenkot, Iraqi said that "Israeli elections have a proclivity towards surprises, so I wouldn't write off anything".