Ra’am (United Arab List)
The United Arab List (Ra’am) is a religious Arab Muslim party, currently led by Mansour Abbas. It largely focuses on social-economic challenges faced by Palestinian Bedouin citizens, with a conservative cultural outlook that has sometimes put it at odds with the other more secular, liberal Arab parties.
The party won 5 Knesset seats in Israel’s November 2022 legislative elections.
The modern Islamic movement in Israel was founded by Sheikh Abdullah Nimr Darwish in the 1970s. In 1996, the question of political participation in the Knesset and support for the Oslo Accords split the movement between a more hardline northern branch (which boycotts Israeli elections), and a more moderate southern branch led by Darwish which gave birth to Ra’am. The charter of the southern branch can be found here.
In December 2025, Mansour Abbas announced his attention to formally separate Ra’am from the southern branch and its Shura Council to become a “completely civic party“.
Ra’am was established as a political party in 1996. It ran with Balad in the May 2019 elections as part of the joint Balad-Ra’am list, winning 4 Knesset seats jointly. The party then co-founded the Joint List but split from it ahead of the March 2021 elections. After which, it provided external support to the 2021-2022 coalition government led by Naftali Bennett and Yair Lapid.
Speaking at Ra’am’s party convention in August 2026, Abbas advocated its integration into the Israeli political establishment, highlighting the party’s role as a potential partner and king-maker in a future governing coalition.