QATAR: Former Israeli Knesset member Azmi Bishara rejects Israeli accusations of "aiding enemy;" says he has no plans to seek political asylum abroad

Palestinian-Israeli former Knesset member Azmi Bishara, who is currently staying in Qatar after having resigned from the Israeli parliament on April 21 and left the Jewish State, said he has no plans of seeking political asylum outside Israel. In doing so, he believes that his political activities would be severely restricted. ''I did no ask for political asylum and I do not need it... As a type of status, political refuge forbids one to practice his political ambitions, and this is something I do not want, and I do not ask for," said Bishara in an interview with Reuters television on Friday (April 27). Bishara, who heads the anti-Zionist party Balad, is suspected by the Israeli police of aiding the country's enemies during last year's war Israel-Hezbollah war, a claim which he denied last week in an interview with the Qatari based al-Jazeera satellite channel. Bishara believes that his defence can be waged through the media. ''The Israeli media has announced its verdict -- as usual it has proved that it is not a democratic and free media apparatus, more of a controlled one as was apparent in the first week of the war against lebanon. And in the same vein, it acted the same way with Azmi Bishara, and one has to counter its actions through the medium of media and diligently scrutinise its claims," said Bishara. Balad, which holds three seats in the Israeli Parliament, now has an empty seat to fill. According to Bishara, his place in parliament will be filled and the 'individual vacuum' left by his departure will not hamper the party's work, Iraq. ''The fourth nominee -- we are three members of parliament (from Balad) -- enters when one of the three resigns, and he is an attorney named Said Naffa and he is the leader of 'Maroufeen al-Ahrar,' a druze movement which refuses to participate in the Israeli military service. He is an activist and an educated young man and will become part of the parliament in due course and this is a fait accompli," said Bishara. "As far as party leadership goes, we have a collective leadership. I don't believe that there will be an organisational vacuum . Clearly, there will be a personal vacuum, as every individual fulfills a role but with regards to an organisational vacuum, I think the institution is well-rooted and will continue," he added. A Israeli police source said that Bishara could be arrested immediately if he returned to Israel. Despite the fact that he lost his immunity to criminal prosecution when he quit the legislature, Bishara claims he will persist in his work outside the Knesset. ''I will continue doing my other numerous duties such as promoting my cause on a popular level, writing, and following my intellectual endeavours. These are responsibilities which I will fulfill without being a member of parliament," noted Bishara. A police document, which does not specifically mention Hezbollah nor elaborate on the allegations, suspects Bishara of aiding the enemy in wartime through information he conveyed, violating money-laundering laws and committing other security-related offences. The Ph.D. holder in philosophy, however, says he sees himself first and foremost as a writer, philosopher and intellectual and claims not to have knowledge of any security issues. ''Their (Israel's) strategies in accusing me of security issues is interesting even to myself as I never expected that their actions would reach such a lowly level. I am a man of thought, of intellect, of philosophy and of literature. I am not involved in security. I don't have any security information to divulge anyway," said Bishara. "I was surprised at them failing to confront me on an political intellectual basis. So they have relegated themselves to using the cheap strategy of playing the security card because from the Israeli standpoint, it is an issue which always prevails because within Israel in its entirety, when anything related to security issues is invoked, the whole system becomes very involved and aggressive'', he continued. Bishara has clashed with Israel's justice system in the past by making solidarity trips to Syria and Lebanon and invoking parliamentary immunity to evade prosecution for visiting such "enemies states." ''It's obvious that Israel proved in this campaign that they will not shy away from using every means when they are unable to maintain the position that the government is for all its citizens and that Arabs will always hold on to their Arab identity to an extent that we do not accept that Syria, Lebanon and Saudi Arabia for example be labeled as enemies. They are enemies of Israel but not of mine. This is a position that they can never digest. They try to impose on us (Arabs) allegiance to Israel and consequently, we are expected to adopt their antagonisms towards others'', said Bishara. The three-seat party headed by Bishara, in the parliament of 120, calls for Israel to cease being defined as a Jewish state and for Palestinians to achieve statehood in the West Bank and Gaza Strip, a call which resonates with many Israeli Arabs, who complain of discrimination by the Jewish majority.

ITN Source | May 1, 2007

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