Fizzling “March Of Return” Leaves Joint List Short Of Recruitment Goals

“Exactly none of the dead come from a demographic that would join a Zionist, or even Jewish, party, and I think we all know why that is.”

Umm el-Fahm, April 3 – Officials from the parties composing the political alliance called the Joint List voiced frustration today that the masses of Palestinians who were expected to cross the Gaza border over the weekend to “return” to homes they never had before the establishment of Israel were not materializing in the hoped-for numbers, casting doubt on the prospect of having those numerous Arabs hostile to Israel’s existence become members of those parties.

Spokespeople for Balad, Ta’al, Hadash, and the United Arab List confessed their disappointment at a press conference this morning upon discovering that the Hamas-driven effort to march toward the coastal territory’s border fence with Israel had not met with any significant success, and that the anticipated throngs of potential new voters for their parties would not materialize.

The “March of Return” calls for sustained demonstrations and attempts to cross into Israel, and has already resulted in more than a dozen deaths, with the majority of the fatalities belonging to Hamas and other terrorist organizations. Had the violent demonstrations taken on a different character and the incidents not involved bombs, rockets, and gunfire directed at Israelis patrolling the border, the Joint List parties expected to have the thousands of newcomers register as members of their parties and move the alliance above the 13-seat mark it has held in the Knesset for years.

A firm Israeli response to the mass invasion attempt helped thwart that outcome, a fact not lost on the Joint List officials, who sought to salvage whatever recruitment potential remains by calling on the army to tone down its response and accusing it of overreaction. “This is ethnic discrimination, pure and simple,” charged Ayman Odeh, the alliance chairman. “You’ll notice exactly none of the dead come from a demographic that would join a Zionist, or even Jewish, party, and I think we all know why that is.”

“This would never be the security forces’ response to a Haredi riot,” asserted MK Hannen Zoabi, who participated in a 2011 incident aboard a Turkish boat also trying to violate Israeli sovereignty. “The fact that the Haredim aren’t armed and don’t spout an ideology that calls for genocide of Jews is a mere technicality, and dwelling on that unimportant distinction only betrays the speaker’s irredeemable racism.”

March of Return participation has fallen off since its weekend peak, dashing Joint List hopes of a spike in new members. “We of course have the option of attracting membership from our domestic constituency,” acknowledged MK Dr. Ahmad Tibi. “But that would involve working for the welfare of Israeli Arabs and not posturing as if we’re PLO agents and Hamas operatives, and that would just be boring.”

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