Origins and Early Political Organizing
The movement grew out of student organizing among Palestinians in Israel in the late 1960s and early 1970s. One of the co-founders, Mohammed Kiwan, was active in establishing a committee of Arab students at Tel Aviv University between 1967 and 1969. In 1969, he was placed under house arrest in Umm al-Fahm, at which point he began organizing to establish Abnaa el-Balad. In 1971, he returned to Tel Aviv University to complete his law degree and in December 1973, he was elected to the municipal council in Umm al-Fahm, running on Abnaa el-Balad's platform.
The original aim of Abnaa el-Balad was to counteract Israeli attempts to "divide and rule" by capitalizing on old family feuds between the various representatives in the Arab municipal councils in Israel. Abnaa el-Balad emphasized the importance of transforming traditional structures and subordinating existing regional, personal and family differences to the national cause. According to Kiwan, Abnaa el-Balad differed from other Palestinian groups in Israel at the time in that, "The problem for us is ... the question of the Palestinian people." Helena Cobban notes that this position mirrored the "ideological innovation" introduced by PFLP, and was expressed in Kiwan's statement that, "We say that the only true legitimate representative of the Palestinian Arabs is the Palestine Liberation Organization...This is the first principle. Secondly, that all the Palestinian people, everywhere, constitute one identity."
Abnaa el-Balad rejected the idea of working within Israel's parliamentary institution, the Knesset. By forming a network of local groups, they hoped to gain power and empower the community through the use of local municipal councils and popular activities. The movement's programme centered around self-determination for Palestinians inside Israel, explicit support for the PLO, and the eventual establishment of a single democratic state in all of Palestine from the river to the sea.
After winning the December 1973 municipal elections, Kiwan and those in the movement set up a cultural center in Umm al-Fahm with a small library where people could gather to attend public meetings and discuss the Palestinian cause. Local groups affiliated with Abnaa el-Balad emerged in many Arab towns in 1970s under different names, such as al-Nahda ("The Rebirth") in Taibeh and al-Bayadir ("The Threshing Floor") in Ar'ara. Abnaa el-Balad was one of many groups to help organize the Land Day (Yom Al Ard) demonstration on 30 March 1976 as a way of defending Palestinian rights to the land and defying and challenging Israeli land confiscation policies.
In 1984, a split formed within Abnaa el-Balad, and a breakaway movement called Al Ansar emerged calling for participation in the Israeli elections. However, by 1987, Al Ansar's numbers dwindled and the group fragmented thereafter.
Abnaa el-Balad managed to recover its community support, particularly after the outbreak of the First Intifada in 1987. David McDowall writes that, "The Uprising vindicated Abna al Balad's insistence on the Palestinian identity of Israel's Arabs "
In 1996, Abnaa el-Balad was among a number of political, intellectual and feminist individuals and groups to form part of the National Democratic Alliance (NDA), a coalition that adopted a "Palestinian nationalist" position and called for "a state for all its citizens". Headed by Azmi Bishara, the NDA ran in the 1996 Knesset elections and Bishara gained a seat, serving in Israel's parliament for 11 years, before leaving the country and resigning his post.
On 18 January 1998, Abnaa el-Balad left the National Democratic Alliance.
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