VARIOUS: Israeli Arab lawmaker Azmi Bishara resigns from the Israeli Knesset whilst in Cairo

INTRO: Israeli Arab lawmaker Azmi Bishara resigned from the Knesset at the Israeli embassy in Cairo and said he would stay outside Israel for a while, citing obligations abroad. Bishara is the subject of an Israeli police investigation into unspecified criminal allegations. Israeli Arab lawmaker Azmi Bishara resigned from the Israeli parliament -- the Knesset -- on Sunday (April 22) at the Israeli embassy in Cairo, and said he would stay abroad for a while, citing obligations abroad. Israeli embassy spokesman Benny Sharoni confirmed that Bishara, the subject of an Israeli police investigation into unspecified criminal allegations, handed his resignation to ambassador Shalom Cohen at a meeting on Sunday morning. While visiting Cairo, Bishara met with Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak as well as the Secretary General of the Arab League Amr Moussa. Bishara told reporters that he had taken the decision to relinquish his membership in the Knesset before it was taken away from him. "While I was abroad this storm that you heard about started. Some members from the Israeli right started to suggest cancelling my immunity or my membership (in parliament) or suggested taking away my privileges as a member (of Knesset). Therefore I did not want to give them the opportunity to go on with this process and I threw the immunity to them instead of them taking it away. I threw it away and I don't hide behind any immunity and I don't want to appear all of a sudden like someone who holds on to membership in parliament while they wish to take it away. That's why I told them since the first day I departed (from Israel) that I make the rules of the game and they are not made for me. And that's why I decided to resign," he said at a press conference in Cairo. An Israeli court last week partially lifted a gag order on the inquiry into Bishara, allowing police to announce that its international crimes unit is investigating him. Bishara, who heads the anti-Zionist party Balad, 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 "enemy states." The former Israeli parliamentarian was at pains to emphasise he would not remain outside Israel and would return as soon as he settles his affairs overseas. "Returning (to Israel) does not depend on anything. My return is certain but it's a matter of a large number of obligations and contacts that I have abroad. I'm a member of dozens of trustee boards, I have books abroad and commitments to publishing houses. I have to settle all these matters because as soon as I go back I will not be able to leave again for several years, even if I am proven innocent, because the trial and the investigation will take several years. That's why I need to finalise all these issues before returning. And I didn't want to postpone resigning until my return. Why resign in Egypt? Because the law says either at the Knesset or an embassy and I was in Egypt when I decided yesterday and I wrote the letter (of resignation)," he said. Bishara's fellow Arab Knesset member Jamal Zahalka said Bishara's resignation was long planned. "Dr. Azmi Bishara's resignation was expected, we knew about it for long time, since last September. He mentioned it during the National Democratic Assembly meeting. Last month, he said he would resign after he finished the projects he was doing. The last issue (Israeli police investigation into unspecified criminal allegations Israel has levelled against Bishara) forced him to delay his resignation, today he announced his resignation," Zahalka said in Nazareth. Balad holds three of the 120 seats in the Israeli Knesset. Its call for Israelis to abandon Zionism and merge with Palestinians in the West Bank and Gaza Strip to become a "binational" state resonates with many Israeli Arabs who complain of discrimination from the Jewish majority. Bishara, 50, of a Christian family from the mainly Arab town of Nazareth, has a doctorate in philosophy and has been in parliament since 1996. He is one of 13 Arab lawmakers in the Knesset. Arabs in Israel complain of systematic discrimination at the hands of the Israeli government, with political under-representation and vast inequities in the distribution of state funds. A Palestinian resident of Jerusalem criticised Israeli authorities for wanting to investigate Bishara's actions and not those of far-right Knesset members who are considered by many as antagonistic towards Palestinians and other Arabs. "Azmi Bishara is a political thinker and an open-minded human being. His thoughts help people. Instead of judging Bishara, they should judge Lieberman who is racist and calls for transferring Arabs (evicting them from Israel). Leave the people to give their own opinions freely. Those who call for evicting the Arabs out of the country, they are the ones who should be judged," said Jerusalem resident Abu Ibrahim, referring to the far-right Israeli cabinet minister, Avigdor Lieberman, who has proposed that Israeli Arab communities go over to Palestinian control under an ethnic partition of Israel and the West Bank. Knesset Members from the Israeli right were largely pleased with the news of Bishara's resignation. "According to my opinion the state of Israel without Azmi Bishara can be a better place," said Yisrael Beitenu's Yisrael Hasson. "I am disappointed because it seems that we will have to wait for him or capture him in order to complete the investigation which is being currently conducted against him. But you know what, it is better late then never," said the Likud's Yuval Shteinitz. But a left-wing Knesset Member, Zehava Galon, said Bishara should not have resigned. "I am bothered by the fact that Knesset Member Azmi Bishara chose this path (resignation). Does it mean he does not trust the (Israeli) authorities? The fact that he doesn't trust the authorities, this is what has been bothering me. When a Knesset member feels persecuted, I am bothered by that and we have already seen matters that started loudly and ended in a small weak voice," Galon said.

ITN Source | April 23, 2007

Tags:. .egyptian. .parliamentary. .privileges. .discrimination. .bothering