It's been the exact same for 3 years. Pardew would love to play Ben Arfa but he just doesn't know how to use him. Hence he's restricted to being his "bit of magic."
Ben Arfa will force his way back into the team like, as he tends to do, put in 5-6 great performances and it'll be "Pards has played a blinder" all over again until we're tanked 5-0 and he's dropped. Rinse, repeat. Ben Arfa won't change, so Pardew has too, it's in his best interests too.