Mansour Abbas: It is too early to eulogize this government

Ra’am party leader Mansour Abbas says that he has already achieved success in breaking the paradigm to show that a political alliance between Arabs and Jews is possible.

“If we create this ethos that it is possible — and here we have succeeded — we will always have somewhere to which to return,” Abbas says during a conference at Herzliya’s Reichman University.

“Whoever says there is no chance and the experiment failed is basically saying that there is nowhere to go back to,” he says.

As the government teeters on the edge of collapse, Abbas says: “We succeeded even if the government dissolved and the right wing gained an absolute majority in the Knesset.”

Describing his attitude toward the current coalition as “cautious optimism,” Abbas says that while embattled, the coalition is not yet past the point of no return.

“It is still too early to eulogize the current government,” he says. The lawmaker adds, meanwhile: “It could be that I will be a minister in the next government.”

While Abbas made history in joining the current governing coalition as the head of the Islamist Ra’am party, he opted not to take on a ministerial role. Reports have been swirling that Abbas has been in quiet talks with the opposition Likud party ahead of likely upcoming elections.