Prime Minister Shimon Peres needs the votes of Israeli Arabs if he hopes to win his election battle with hard-line challenger Benjamin Netanyahu.
But after Israel's bombing blitz in Lebanon last month, truck driver Nader Issa and many other Arabs are threatening to withhold their traditional support for the Labor Party, whose leader, Peres, has been the architect of Mideast peacemaking."Before the attack on Lebanon, I had planned to work for Peres' campaign day and night, to make sure he wins," said Issa, 23, sitting in a cafe in this Arab village near Tel Aviv airport.
"But then I saw on television children with their heads blown away. I cannot believe that someone who is capable of committing such an act can also want peace."
Such misgivings come at a time when Peres needs the support of Arab voters more than ever.
His lead over Netanyahu is slim, and changes in the electoral system - Israelis will choose their prime minister directly for the first time in the May 29 parliamentary elections - give Arab voters more clout.
Netanyahu is likely to get slightly more Jewish votes than Peres, and only overwhelming Arab support would tip the balance in Peres' favor. Arabs make up about 12 percent of the electorate, or 450,000 out of 3.9 million eligible voters.
A recent survey suggested 31 percent of Arab voters who initially planned to vote for Peres would cast blank ballots in protest over the Lebanon bombardment.
Tamam Jabali, 60, said she would abstain in the vote for prime minister. "Anyone with brains will not vote," Jabali said in a heated discussion with family members in the courtyard of her home in the Arab village of Taibeh. "Israel doesn't like Arabs."
But pollster Hanoch Smith predicts some of the anger will dissipate. He expects 85 percent to 90 percent of Arab voters to cast their ballots for Peres, with a turnout of about 75 percent in the Arab community.
Issa, the truck driver, said he hasn't made up his mind. "I want Peres to win, but I don't want to have to vote for him," Issa said.
Israeli Arab politicians have seized upon such misgivings in an effort to leverage political gains for their community.
Arab legislators met with Peres and told him they would deliver the Arab vote only if he met a list of conditions.
Among their demands: the appointment of an Arab minister in Peres' next Cabinet, a first for Israel; construction of an Arab university; an end to the painful, 10-week-old blockade of the West Bank and Gaza Strip that was imposed after a series of suicide bombings by Islamic militants.
"We refuse to be in anyone's pocket, even Peres', and we refuse to cooperate with Peres. We shall work on crushing the view that Arabs have no choice but to vote Labor," said Ibrahim Sarsour, mayor of Kfar Qassem and a member of the Islamic movement that for the first time is taking part in the elections.