Al-Ard
Encyclopedia
Al-Ard was a political movement made up of Arab citizens of Israel
active between 1958 and some time in the 1970s. It was the first Arab
dissident group of significance to emerge from within Israel
that managed to attract the attention of parallel Palestinian nationalist movements outside. Described as, "a non-violent, irredentist Palestinian
political movement, which regarded the whole of Mandatory Palestine as an Arab territory," Al-Ard was committed to a one-state solution to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict
, but expressed openness to a settlement based on the United Nations Partition Plan for Palestine.
Al-Ard called upon Arab citizens to boycott participation in the Knesset
elections of 1959. Between 1959 and 1964, attempts to register the organization as an Israel
i NGO and secure it a publishing permit
largely came to naught, with some members of Al-Ard detained by the Israeli authorities for publishing a newspaper without oversight or permission in 1960. In 1964, Al-Ard was outlawed as an organization by the Minister of Defense. Three more of its members were arrested and later released into house arrest with no official charges ever laid.
Four al-Ard members formed part of an electoral list put forward for the 1965 Knesset elections, but the list was voided by the Israeli electoral authorities, the government, and the country's Supreme Court
, who reiterated Al-Ard's status as an illegal organization. In 1967, three members of Al-Ard were convicted for collaborating with enemy organizations, and the movement ceased organizing by the 1970s. Many of Al-Ard's political ideas continue to enjoy some currency among Palestinian citizens of Israel today.
, owing to a combination of factors including military rule over their localities, poverty, isolation, fragmentation, and their periphal position in the new Israeli state. The most notable antigovernment occasions were the May Day
protests, staged annually by the Communist party
. After bloody confrontations broke out between protestors and the police at the demonstrations of 1958 in Nazareth
, many Arab citizens were arrested. During an Arab public committee set up to protest their imprisonment, an alliance between Arab Communists and nationalists was forged, resulting in the establishment of a new organization called the Popular Front.
Attempts to officially register the organization with the Israeli authorities were denied. Regarded as potentially subversive, members were also denied travel permits by the military administration which made it impossible for them to attend meetings or lectures far from their place of residence. Some were also detained
for investigation. The Popular Front quickly disintegrated because of the hostile government and media reactions, as well an internal ideological split between the Communists and nationalists. The nationalists went on to establish Al-Ard, among whose founding members were Arab students from the Faculty of Law at Hebrew University. The response of the Israeli authorities did not differ significantly from the response to the Popular Front.
The emergence of Arab political organizing at this juncture is attributed by Elia Zureik to a number of factors. These include the massive expropriations of Arab-owned land in the first decade following the founding of the Israeli state, and the limited educational and employment opportunities for Arabs, which led some to try to escape across the border (one person was shot dead in such an attempt). Other factors contributing to the state of Arab resentment towards the authorities was the strict application of military rule to Arab localities which resulted, for example, in the deaths of 51 Arab citizens in the 1956 Kafr Qasim massacre
. In the regional arena, there was Israel's collusion with the British and French in the 1956 Sinai Invasion
and Israeli support for the French occupation of Algeria
. An additional regional factor was the general level of politicization and upsurge in feelings of pan-Arabism
that followed Gamal Abdel Nasser
's ascent to power in Egypt
in the 1950s.
Shortly after its split from the Arab Communist party in 1959, Al-Ard began to issue a weekly paper in that name, which the authorities quickly closed down. Of this "first act" of al-Ard, Yoram Dinstein
writes that it was, "a newspaper filled with incitement against the State. In order to avoid the legal necessity of paying for a licence, the editors tried to give the newspaper the character of a one-time affair, publishing it under a different name each time." According to Sammy Smooha, the group applied for, but was denied a permit to publish a periodical. Among the subjects covered in the newspaper were the difficulties faced by Arab villagers in Israel under the rule of the military government or martial law
. Al-Ard's publications were confiscated in 1960, and six of the editorial staff were tried and convicted.
In June 1960, seven members of al-Ard founded a corporation named Al-Ard Ltd., and attempted to register it with the Israeli authorities. The Registrar of Companies refused the application, describing their decision as "a security step and in the interests of the public." Mansour Kardosh, one of the seven and the owner of a factory in Nazareth
, appealed to the Israeli Supreme Court asking it to order the Registrar of Companies to register Al-Ard Ltd. The Registrar of Companies invoked paragraph 14 of the Companies Ordinance which granted absolute discretion to the Justice Minister of Israel
with no right of appeal. The Court refused the Registrar's argument, and upheld the appeal by Kardosh. The Registrar refused to accept the decision and appealed to the Court for a new trial. Convened in 1962, it ended with the Court reiterating that the company should be allowed to register. This time the Registrar of Companies had to oblige.
A subsequent request by Al-Ard to secure a legal permit to publish a newspaper was denied by the government who invoked the 1945 Defence Emergency Regulations
. Appeals to the Supreme Court in 1964 were refused with the Court arguing it had no jurisdiction. Having exhausted its legal options, al-Ard took its case to the international community, circulating a petition to foreign embassies in Israel and to the United Nations
. Later that same year, Al-Ard was outlawed by order of the Minister of Defense. On November 11, the Supreme Court rejected al-Ard's appeal against the decision. Three members of al-Ard were then arrested after Israeli authorities captured infiltrators at the border who they claimed had orders to meet with al-Ard. No formal accusation was made however, and the three were released into house arrest.
In 1965, al-Ard organized a parliamentary slate under the name 'Arab Socialist List' in an attempt to participate in the Knesset elections
that year. The government went to the military governor who banished four al-Ard candidates for, "provocative activities against the state." The Israeli Central Elections Committee
also withheld approval for the list, seeing it as a reorganization of the al-Ard movement banned by the Minister of Defense the year previous. The voiding of the list was appealed before the Supreme Court, but the application was denied with the Court accepting the Attorney General's plea that this was the same case as that decided the year previous in a different format.
In December 1967, three members of al-Ard were convicted of giving shelter to Palestinian guerillas
. The leadership of the organization fell apart, with four key members leaving Israel in the 1970s, three of whom affiliated themselves with the Palestine Liberation Organization
in some capacity. One of the four was Sabri Jiryis
, a graduate of the Faculty of Law at Hebrew University and author of The Arabs in Israel (1966). According to Dinstein, he became involved in a "terrorist ring" after the Six-Day War
and emigrated to Lebanon
, "where he conducts anti-Israel propaganda." William Frankel writes that Jiryis, who was Christian, left the Galilee in 1970, to join the PLO Executive Committee in Beirut and that he and two others, Mahmoud Darwish
and Habib Qahwaji led the integration of "Israeli Arabs" into the Palestinian national struggle. This resulted in the development of the "three circles" concept by the PLO, whereby it saw itself as a representative of three geographically dispersed Palestinian groups: "the '1948 Arabs' (or Israeli Arabs), those from the West Bank
and Gaza Strip
, and the Palestinian diaspora
."
For Israeli newspapers, most of the public and the courts, "the essential aim of al-Ard is to struggle for Palestinian Arab nationalism, ignoring the will of the Jewish majority in Israel as well as the State's authorities." Article 3 of al-Ard's constitution which was cited by Supreme Court Justice Vitcon as the basis for the decision to declare it "an illegal association denying the very existence of Israel," read, in part:
Al-Ard had disappeared from the public arena by the 1970s. While this was partially due to the actions of the State of Israel, the movement was also challenged from within the Arab community, particularly by the Israeli Communist party who saw it as a competitive threat, even though its membership never exceeded 200 people. The Communist Party denounced them in 1961 as, "reactionary national bourgoisie," even though the party itself often employed the same political rhetoric put forward by Al-Ard.
The Palestinian Arab community inside of Israel, insecure and downtrodden, had never fully embraced Al-Ard, with some fearing that its actions might pose a threat to their very existence. Many believed that the Communist party, a majority-Arab party with Jewish membership that did recognize the state, would also have been shut down by the Israeli authorities had it counted only Palestinians among its membership. However, despite these apprehensions, the ideas put forward by Al-Ard, particularly that of a renewed Palestinism, have reemerged among the Arab community in Israel time and again since.
Arab citizens of Israel
Arab citizens of Israel refers to citizens of Israel who are not Jewish, and whose cultural and linguistic heritage or ethnic identity is Arab....
active between 1958 and some time in the 1970s. It was the first Arab
Arab
Arab people, also known as Arabs , are a panethnicity primarily living in the Arab world, which is located in Western Asia and North Africa. They are identified as such on one or more of genealogical, linguistic, or cultural grounds, with tribal affiliations, and intra-tribal relationships playing...
dissident group of significance to emerge from within Israel
Israel
The State of Israel is a parliamentary republic located in the Middle East, along the eastern shore of the Mediterranean Sea...
that managed to attract the attention of parallel Palestinian nationalist movements outside. Described as, "a non-violent, irredentist Palestinian
Palestinian people
The Palestinian people, also referred to as Palestinians or Palestinian Arabs , are an Arabic-speaking people with origins in Palestine. Despite various wars and exoduses, roughly one third of the world's Palestinian population continues to reside in the area encompassing the West Bank, the Gaza...
political movement, which regarded the whole of Mandatory Palestine as an Arab territory," Al-Ard was committed to a one-state solution to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict
Israeli-Palestinian conflict
The Israeli–Palestinian conflict is the ongoing conflict between Israelis and Palestinians. The conflict is wide-ranging, and the term is also used in reference to the earlier phases of the same conflict, between Jewish and Zionist yishuv and the Arab population living in Palestine under Ottoman or...
, but expressed openness to a settlement based on the United Nations Partition Plan for Palestine.
Al-Ard called upon Arab citizens to boycott participation in the Knesset
Knesset
The Knesset is the unicameral legislature of Israel, located in Givat Ram, Jerusalem.-Role in Israeli Government :The legislative branch of the Israeli government, the Knesset passes all laws, elects the President and Prime Minister , approves the cabinet, and supervises the work of the government...
elections of 1959. Between 1959 and 1964, attempts to register the organization as an Israel
Israel
The State of Israel is a parliamentary republic located in the Middle East, along the eastern shore of the Mediterranean Sea...
i NGO and secure it a publishing permit
Editors Committee (Israel)
The Editors Committee is an informal forum comprised by the editors and owners of the main Israeli media. It meets regularly with the prime minister, cabinet members and senior officials. Until the 1980s, it took a central role in the self-censorship practiced by the Israeli media outlets...
largely came to naught, with some members of Al-Ard detained by the Israeli authorities for publishing a newspaper without oversight or permission in 1960. In 1964, Al-Ard was outlawed as an organization by the Minister of Defense. Three more of its members were arrested and later released into house arrest with no official charges ever laid.
Four al-Ard members formed part of an electoral list put forward for the 1965 Knesset elections, but the list was voided by the Israeli electoral authorities, the government, and the country's Supreme Court
Supreme Court of Israel
The Supreme Court is at the head of the court system and highest judicial instance in Israel. The Supreme Court sits in Jerusalem.The area of its jurisdiction is all of Israel and the Israeli-occupied territories. A ruling of the Supreme Court is binding upon every court, other than the Supreme...
, who reiterated Al-Ard's status as an illegal organization. In 1967, three members of Al-Ard were convicted for collaborating with enemy organizations, and the movement ceased organizing by the 1970s. Many of Al-Ard's political ideas continue to enjoy some currency among Palestinian citizens of Israel today.
Origins
Public protest against state policies and practices from among the Palestinian Arabs in Israel was rare prior to the mid-1970s, according to Oren YiftachelOren Yiftachel
Oren Yiftachel teaches political geography, urban planning and public policy at Ben-Gurion University of the Negev.Yiftachel studied during the 1980s in Australian and Israeli universities...
, owing to a combination of factors including military rule over their localities, poverty, isolation, fragmentation, and their periphal position in the new Israeli state. The most notable antigovernment occasions were the May Day
May Day
May Day on May 1 is an ancient northern hemisphere spring festival and usually a public holiday; it is also a traditional spring holiday in many cultures....
protests, staged annually by the Communist party
Maki (historical political party)
Maki was a communist political party in Israel. It is not the same party as the modern day Maki, which split from it during the 1960s and later assumed its name.-History:...
. After bloody confrontations broke out between protestors and the police at the demonstrations of 1958 in Nazareth
Nazareth
Nazareth is the largest city in the North District of Israel. Known as "the Arab capital of Israel," the population is made up predominantly of Palestinian Arab citizens of Israel...
, many Arab citizens were arrested. During an Arab public committee set up to protest their imprisonment, an alliance between Arab Communists and nationalists was forged, resulting in the establishment of a new organization called the Popular Front.
Attempts to officially register the organization with the Israeli authorities were denied. Regarded as potentially subversive, members were also denied travel permits by the military administration which made it impossible for them to attend meetings or lectures far from their place of residence. Some were also detained
Administrative detention
Administrative detention is arrest and detention of individuals by the state without trial, usually for security reasons. A large number of countries, both democratic and undemocratic, resort to administrative detention as a means to combat terrorism, control illegal immigration, or to protect the...
for investigation. The Popular Front quickly disintegrated because of the hostile government and media reactions, as well an internal ideological split between the Communists and nationalists. The nationalists went on to establish Al-Ard, among whose founding members were Arab students from the Faculty of Law at Hebrew University. The response of the Israeli authorities did not differ significantly from the response to the Popular Front.
The emergence of Arab political organizing at this juncture is attributed by Elia Zureik to a number of factors. These include the massive expropriations of Arab-owned land in the first decade following the founding of the Israeli state, and the limited educational and employment opportunities for Arabs, which led some to try to escape across the border (one person was shot dead in such an attempt). Other factors contributing to the state of Arab resentment towards the authorities was the strict application of military rule to Arab localities which resulted, for example, in the deaths of 51 Arab citizens in the 1956 Kafr Qasim massacre
Kafr Qasim massacre
The Kafr Qasim massacre took place in the Israeli Arab village of Kafr Qasim situated on the Green Line, at that time, the de facto border between Israel and the West Bank on October 29, 1956. It was carried out by the Israel Border Police and resulted in 48 Arab civilians dead, including 6 women...
. In the regional arena, there was Israel's collusion with the British and French in the 1956 Sinai Invasion
Suez Crisis
The Suez Crisis, also referred to as the Tripartite Aggression, Suez War was an offensive war fought by France, the United Kingdom, and Israel against Egypt beginning on 29 October 1956. Less than a day after Israel invaded Egypt, Britain and France issued a joint ultimatum to Egypt and Israel,...
and Israeli support for the French occupation of Algeria
Algeria
Algeria , officially the People's Democratic Republic of Algeria , also formally referred to as the Democratic and Popular Republic of Algeria, is a country in the Maghreb region of Northwest Africa with Algiers as its capital.In terms of land area, it is the largest country in Africa and the Arab...
. An additional regional factor was the general level of politicization and upsurge in feelings of pan-Arabism
Pan-Arabism
Pan-Arabism is an ideology espousing the unification--or, sometimes, close cooperation and solidarity against perceived enemies of the Arabs--of the countries of the Arab world, from the Atlantic Ocean to the Arabian Sea. It is closely connected to Arab nationalism, which asserts that the Arabs...
that followed Gamal Abdel Nasser
Gamal Abdel Nasser
Gamal Abdel Nasser Hussein was the second President of Egypt from 1956 until his death. A colonel in the Egyptian army, Nasser led the Egyptian Revolution of 1952 along with Muhammad Naguib, the first president, which overthrew the monarchy of Egypt and Sudan, and heralded a new period of...
's ascent to power in Egypt
Egypt
Egypt , officially the Arab Republic of Egypt, Arabic: , is a country mainly in North Africa, with the Sinai Peninsula forming a land bridge in Southwest Asia. Egypt is thus a transcontinental country, and a major power in Africa, the Mediterranean Basin, the Middle East and the Muslim world...
in the 1950s.
Registration attempts and activities
After its formation, Al-Ard made a number of attempts to register itself with the Israeli authorities, first as a corporation, then as a non-governmental organization, and finally as a political party. Temporarily successful in its first endeavour, the second two efforts failed.Shortly after its split from the Arab Communist party in 1959, Al-Ard began to issue a weekly paper in that name, which the authorities quickly closed down. Of this "first act" of al-Ard, Yoram Dinstein
Yoram Dinstein
Yoram Dinstein is an international law Professor Emeritus at Tel Aviv University and is a specialist on international law, and an authority on the laws of war.-Career:...
writes that it was, "a newspaper filled with incitement against the State. In order to avoid the legal necessity of paying for a licence, the editors tried to give the newspaper the character of a one-time affair, publishing it under a different name each time." According to Sammy Smooha, the group applied for, but was denied a permit to publish a periodical. Among the subjects covered in the newspaper were the difficulties faced by Arab villagers in Israel under the rule of the military government or martial law
Martial law
Martial law is the imposition of military rule by military authorities over designated regions on an emergency basis— only temporary—when the civilian government or civilian authorities fail to function effectively , when there are extensive riots and protests, or when the disobedience of the law...
. Al-Ard's publications were confiscated in 1960, and six of the editorial staff were tried and convicted.
In June 1960, seven members of al-Ard founded a corporation named Al-Ard Ltd., and attempted to register it with the Israeli authorities. The Registrar of Companies refused the application, describing their decision as "a security step and in the interests of the public." Mansour Kardosh, one of the seven and the owner of a factory in Nazareth
Nazareth
Nazareth is the largest city in the North District of Israel. Known as "the Arab capital of Israel," the population is made up predominantly of Palestinian Arab citizens of Israel...
, appealed to the Israeli Supreme Court asking it to order the Registrar of Companies to register Al-Ard Ltd. The Registrar of Companies invoked paragraph 14 of the Companies Ordinance which granted absolute discretion to the Justice Minister of Israel
Justice Minister of Israel
The Justice Minister of Israel is the political head of the Israeli Ministry of Justice and a position in the Israeli cabinet. The current minister is Ya'akov Ne'eman, an independent who is not a member of the Knesset....
with no right of appeal. The Court refused the Registrar's argument, and upheld the appeal by Kardosh. The Registrar refused to accept the decision and appealed to the Court for a new trial. Convened in 1962, it ended with the Court reiterating that the company should be allowed to register. This time the Registrar of Companies had to oblige.
A subsequent request by Al-Ard to secure a legal permit to publish a newspaper was denied by the government who invoked the 1945 Defence Emergency Regulations
Defence (Emergency) Regulations
The Defence Regulations are an expansive set of regulations that were first enacted by the Mandatory authorities in British Mandate Palestine on 27 September 1945...
. Appeals to the Supreme Court in 1964 were refused with the Court arguing it had no jurisdiction. Having exhausted its legal options, al-Ard took its case to the international community, circulating a petition to foreign embassies in Israel and to the United Nations
United Nations
The United Nations is an international organization whose stated aims are facilitating cooperation in international law, international security, economic development, social progress, human rights, and achievement of world peace...
. Later that same year, Al-Ard was outlawed by order of the Minister of Defense. On November 11, the Supreme Court rejected al-Ard's appeal against the decision. Three members of al-Ard were then arrested after Israeli authorities captured infiltrators at the border who they claimed had orders to meet with al-Ard. No formal accusation was made however, and the three were released into house arrest.
In 1965, al-Ard organized a parliamentary slate under the name 'Arab Socialist List' in an attempt to participate in the Knesset elections
Israeli legislative election, 1965
Elections for the sixth Knesset were held in Israel on 1 November 1965. Voter turnout was 85.9%.-Background:Prior to the elections, two major alliances were formed; Mapai and Ahdut HaAvoda united to form the Alignment, whilst Herut and the Liberal Party had formed the Gahal alliance towards the end...
that year. The government went to the military governor who banished four al-Ard candidates for, "provocative activities against the state." The Israeli Central Elections Committee
Israeli Central Elections Committee
The Israeli Central Elections Committee is the body charged under the Knesset Elections Law of 1969 to carry out the elections for the upcoming Knesset. The committee is composed of Knesset members representating various parliamentary groups and is chaired by a Supreme Court Justice...
also withheld approval for the list, seeing it as a reorganization of the al-Ard movement banned by the Minister of Defense the year previous. The voiding of the list was appealed before the Supreme Court, but the application was denied with the Court accepting the Attorney General's plea that this was the same case as that decided the year previous in a different format.
In December 1967, three members of al-Ard were convicted of giving shelter to Palestinian guerillas
Palestinian fedayeen
Palestinian fedayeen refers to militants or guerrillas of a nationalist orientation from among the Palestinian people...
. The leadership of the organization fell apart, with four key members leaving Israel in the 1970s, three of whom affiliated themselves with the Palestine Liberation Organization
Palestine Liberation Organization
The Palestine Liberation Organization is a political and paramilitary organization which was created in 1964. It is recognized as the "sole legitimate representative of the Palestinian people" by the United Nations and over 100 states with which it holds diplomatic relations, and has enjoyed...
in some capacity. One of the four was Sabri Jiryis
Sabri Jiryis
Sabri Jiryis is a Palestinian-Arab Israeli writer and lawyer, a graduate of the Hebrew University law faculty, and prominent Palestinian activist. In 1966 the first edition of his book The Arabs in Israel was published in Hebrew.- Arrest in Israel :He was given an "Administrative House Arrest"...
, a graduate of the Faculty of Law at Hebrew University and author of The Arabs in Israel (1966). According to Dinstein, he became involved in a "terrorist ring" after the Six-Day War
Six-Day War
The Six-Day War , also known as the June War, 1967 Arab-Israeli War, or Third Arab-Israeli War, was fought between June 5 and 10, 1967, by Israel and the neighboring states of Egypt , Jordan, and Syria...
and emigrated to Lebanon
Lebanon
Lebanon , officially the Republic of LebanonRepublic of Lebanon is the most common term used by Lebanese government agencies. The term Lebanese Republic, a literal translation of the official Arabic and French names that is not used in today's world. Arabic is the most common language spoken among...
, "where he conducts anti-Israel propaganda." William Frankel writes that Jiryis, who was Christian, left the Galilee in 1970, to join the PLO Executive Committee in Beirut and that he and two others, Mahmoud Darwish
Mahmoud Darwish
Mahmoud Darwish was a Palestinian poet and author who won numerous awards for his literary output and was regarded as the Palestinian national poet...
and Habib Qahwaji led the integration of "Israeli Arabs" into the Palestinian national struggle. This resulted in the development of the "three circles" concept by the PLO, whereby it saw itself as a representative of three geographically dispersed Palestinian groups: "the '1948 Arabs' (or Israeli Arabs), those from the West Bank
West Bank
The West Bank ) of the Jordan River is the landlocked geographical eastern part of the Palestinian territories located in Western Asia. To the west, north, and south, the West Bank shares borders with the state of Israel. To the east, across the Jordan River, lies the Hashemite Kingdom of Jordan...
and Gaza Strip
Gaza Strip
thumb|Gaza city skylineThe Gaza Strip lies on the Eastern coast of the Mediterranean Sea. The Strip borders Egypt on the southwest and Israel on the south, east and north. It is about long, and between 6 and 12 kilometres wide, with a total area of...
, and the Palestinian diaspora
Palestinian diaspora
Palestinian diaspora is a term used to describe Palestinians living outside of historic Palestine - an area today known as Israel and the Palestinian territories or the West Bank, and the Gaza Strip...
."
Aims and public reception
Al-Ard's political programme centered around a number of objectives, among them, "to achieve complete equality and social justice for all classes of people in Israel," and "to find a just solution for the Palestine problem as a whole, and as an indivisible unit." While they called unsuccessfully for a boycott of the 1959 Knesset elections, they attempted to participate in the elections of 1965 after being outlawed as an organization in 1964."An equitable solution has to be found by considering the problem as an indivisible part which has to be solved in line with the wishes of the Palestinian peopleNot recalled by the court was that al-Ard also held that, "recognition of the United Nations decision of 29 November 1947 [...] would provide a solution which would maintain the rights of both Israeli-Jewish and Palestinian-Arab people and would strengthen that stability and peace of the region." Arab activists from al-Ard and those who followed in that political tradition thereafter have countered criticism that they do not recognize Israel's right to exist by pointing to this statement or making similar statements themselves. For the Palestinian Arab community in Israel, who did not share in the authorities' interpretation of events, the government's decision to ban al-Ard was perceived to be discriminatory.Palestinian peopleThe Palestinian people, also referred to as Palestinians or Palestinian Arabs , are an Arabic-speaking people with origins in Palestine. Despite various wars and exoduses, roughly one third of the world's Palestinian population continues to reside in the area encompassing the West Bank, the Gaza...
, to respond to its aspirations and interests, to restore it its autonomy, to guarantee its complete and legitimate rights for being the main factor responsible for deciding its destiny in line with the high ideals of the Arab nationArab nationalismArab nationalism is a nationalist ideology celebrating the glories of Arab civilization, the language and literature of the Arabs, calling for rejuvenation and political union in the Arab world...
."
Al-Ard had disappeared from the public arena by the 1970s. While this was partially due to the actions of the State of Israel, the movement was also challenged from within the Arab community, particularly by the Israeli Communist party who saw it as a competitive threat, even though its membership never exceeded 200 people. The Communist Party denounced them in 1961 as, "reactionary national bourgoisie," even though the party itself often employed the same political rhetoric put forward by Al-Ard.
The Palestinian Arab community inside of Israel, insecure and downtrodden, had never fully embraced Al-Ard, with some fearing that its actions might pose a threat to their very existence. Many believed that the Communist party, a majority-Arab party with Jewish membership that did recognize the state, would also have been shut down by the Israeli authorities had it counted only Palestinians among its membership. However, despite these apprehensions, the ideas put forward by Al-Ard, particularly that of a renewed Palestinism, have reemerged among the Arab community in Israel time and again since.