Good cartoonists can summarize major issues with a simple image. The Palestinian cartoonist Khalil Abu Arafe summed up the Palestinians' warm welcome for the joint list of Palestinian citizens of Israel to compete in the Israeli parliamentary elections scheduled for March 17. In a Jan. 24 cartoon, Abu Arafe depicts Ayman Odeh, head of the joint Arab list, saying, “We are staying here,” while next to him three Israeli candidates — Isaac Herzog, Tzipi Livni and Benjamin Netanyahu — ask in reference to the Arab list, “Where did they come from?”

The unprecedented success of Palestinians in Israel agreeing to a joint list is in fact likely to create the fourth-largest bloc in the 120-member Israeli Knesset provided the public comes out to vote. Palestinians in the occupied territories generally welcomed the unity of their compatriots in Israel, and some leaders of the Palestine Liberation Organization (PLO) have even taken partial credit for the list. In a phone interview with Al-Monitor, Yaser Abed Rabbo, secretary-general of the PLO’s Executive Committee, expressed his pride in the PLO’s contribution.

He commented, “We don’t hide the fact that we supported this unity move from the beginning. We are always supportive of unity on the bases of the joint national identity of the Palestinian people and in the face of racism whose victims are the Arab population in Israel.” Abed Rabbo explained that the PLO supports the unity of Palestinians everywhere for the same objective and national reasons and understands the specific nature and challenges of the various communities.

Abed Rabbo dismissed the idea that the PLO’s encouragement of a joint list had anything to do with future Palestinian-Israeli negotiations. He considered it a “superficial simplification” of a complicated situation. “Sure we are for their unity against the right-wing racists, but this desire doesn’t stem from a selfish point of view,” said Abed Rabbo. The PLO official stressed nonetheless that Palestinians yearn for peace and would love to see “a genuine partner for peace” emerge from the elections.