Rise of Palestinian parties in Knesset will redraw Israel’s political landscape

Exit polls indicate opposition leader Gadi Eisenkot will have to work with Arab-Israeli leaders to have a hope of governing

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The big gains made by Palestinian parties in Israel’s general election pose an urgent and fundamental challenge to the country’s mainstream opposition: either cooperate with Arab Israelis or hand Benjamin Netanyahu a roadmap to political survival.

In the wake of Tuesday’s exit polls, the leader of the opposition bloc, Gadi Eisenkot, declared them a victory for “Israel’s Zionist national majority” but the real outcome looks as if it will be far more complex than that.