Israel’s Palestinian citizens, represented by the ‘Arab’ parties, are taking a serious and realistic approach in their dealings with the Zionist, anti-Netanyahu bloc of Gadi Eisenkot. According to Haaretz’s Jack Khoury, key Joint List lawmaker Ahmad Tibi today said that, for the Eisenkot bloc: “We want to make things easier, not harder, and we’re extending a hand to anyone who wants to bring down this government and replace it with another.”

Despite their record showing in the election, he stressed that they were not demanding ministerial portfolios or seats in the security cabinet. Further: “We won’t support any no-confidence motion brought by Likud, and we won’t initiate the dissolution of the Knesset. We’ll swallow some bitter pills, because without the Arab parties, there will be no change.”

In the initial dealings of the Eisenkot bloc and the Arab bloc, to first replace the hardcore Likud Speaker of the Knesset, Khoury reports that a senior official of the Joint List explained they would support, for example, Yair Lapid—one of the anti-Netanyahu bloc leaders—as an agreed-upon candidate. Khoury adds that, according to an associate of Lapid, a meeting between him and Avigdor Lieberman—the most hardcore anti-Arab bloc member of the Eisenkot bloc—is expected shortly to secure agreement on the move.