Palestinians are voting in Israel to ensure their very survival

Ibrahim Said has boycotted Israeli elections since voting in 1980.

Parties came and went, telling him they would defend his interests if elected, even promising to help return his lands in al-Birwa, the town his family were displaced from during the 1948 Nakba.

But nothing ever changed for the better for Palestinian citizens of Israel. Israeli democracy had nothing to offer him and his community, the 70-year-old felt.

This year, the situation is completely different.

“Without a doubt, we must vote this time. We are living in fear,” Said tells Middle East Eye in his garage in the Galilee.