EGYPT/FILE: Israeli Arab lawmaker Azmi Bishara resigns from Knesset while on Cairo visit and says will stay abroad for a while because of "racist" climate in Israel

Israeli Arab lawmaker Azmi Bishara resigns from Knesset while on Cairo visit and says will stay abroad for a while because of "racist" climate in Israel. Israeli Arab lawmaker Azmi Bishara, under criminal investigation in Israel, resigned from the Knesset on Sunday (April 22) at the Israeli embassy in Cairo and said he would stay abroad for a time because of a "racist" climate. 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. 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". "In order not to create an impression that I am hiding behind my membership in the Knesset or my immunity etc, I resigned myself and I also wanted to give an opportunity to my party to work in the Parliament with three members not only with two," Bishara told reporters in Cairo. He said that if he stayed in Israel legal proceedings could drag on for years and he would not be able to leave. 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. Balad holds three of the 120 seats in the Israeli parliament. Its call for Israel to cease being defined as a Jewish state and for Palestinians to achieve statehood in the West Bank and Gaza Strip resonates with many Israeli Arabs, who complain of discrimination by the Jewish majority. Bishara, 50, and 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. He has spoken of resigning for some time but an aide said the police inquiry had accelerated his decision. Bishara told Al Jazeera that the Israeli authorities were trying to convert their allegations against him into what he called "security allegations in times of war".

ITN Source | April 23, 2007

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