Editor's note: I am moving to posting at the primary blog(also see new articles below and some of yesterday's at the secondary blog).
---
Last update - 07:50 13/04/2007
Haaretz
By Bradley Burston
If Azmi Bishara had never existed, the right would have had to invent him.
There is the irresistible juxtaposition of the good suits and the revolutionary rhetoric, the erudite professor of philosophy seated alongside Hezbollah chief Hassan Nasrallah at a memorial in Syria for Hafez Assad, the Christian from Nazareth praising Hezbollah as a heroic example of Islamic resistance which has "lifted the spirit of the Arab people."
The right can't afford to lose Bishara. He is subversive beyond its wildest dreams. As the first Arab to run for prime minister of the Jewish state, his brilliance, his flamboyance, his refusal to compromise, have allowed the right to milk the word treason for all its worth.
Bishara always made too good a target. For people like Avigdor Lieberman, Bishara is an electoral secret weapon, fuel for the fire of any campaign that trades on fear of Arabs, hatred of Arabs, suspicion of Arabs, revulsion at the fact that they live here among us, well over than a million of them. One of them for every four of us.
Bishara, however, is not our real problem. We are our problem.
There is something deep down in many of us, which causes us to takes a quiet satisfaction in the notion that if push came to shove, the Arab citizens of Israel would prove themselves disloyal.
Too many of us want our Arabs to be traitors. Too many of us see Israeli Arabs, as a group, as hypocrites, parasites, their dual-loyalty a thin disguise for support of terror in the service of Palestine.
There is a quiet sense among many of us, that Israeli Arabs are fleecing the state, even as they grouse about inequality and nurse plans to de-Judaize the national home of the Jewish People.
It is, in many ways, a form of classical anti-Semitism in which the Semites in question happen to be Israeli Arabs.
We complain that they live off the rest of us, that they flaunt our zoning laws and evade the taxes we pay, that they are happy to take our welfare while spurning the notion of defending the country.
It makes us feel somehow more secure in our own identity as Jews in a Jewish state. It makes our dislike of them, our educational, economic, and social discrimination against them, seem more of a reasoned response than what it actually is, which is institutional racism.
Consider an article currently making its viral rounds on the e-mail circuit among Israeli Jews.
"They're so 'downtrodden' that tax collection in the Arab sector is a joke, and statistics on this are known to all those who care to know them," the article states. "Not only national levies like income and value-added taxes, but they can't really be bothered to pay their own municipal taxes, all the while expecting the government to cover the deficits they themselves created."
A fascinating condemnation, proving, perhaps more than anything, that Israeli Arabs have learned remarkably well to become as Israeli as the next guy.
The article goes on to paint a picture of the Israeli Arab as posing as a victim of crushing racism and poverty while actually living a life of luxury far beyond the means of the average Israeli Jew.
"They're so 'discriminated against,' that this entire [Arab] sector lives in single-family houses, that is to say, villas, which are, in fact, huge castles."
According to the anonymous author, "Every one of them lives on a jabel [hillock] of his own, as though land were an unlimited resource in this land.
"Residents of [the Israeli Arab village of] Sahnin complain of 'confiscation of lands.' But they forget that in Sahnin, 20,000 residents live on 8,000 dunams, while in Ramat Gan, for example, upwards of 150,000 people live on a total area of 12,000 dunams, a quarter of which is taken up by parks."
The real relish, however, is reserved for the blend of treachery and hypocrisy which the author finds endemic among Israeli Arabs.
"They're so 'oppressed,' that that they can openly identify with the worst of our enemies, Iran, Hezbollah, Hamas, Syria, the Islamic Jihad and they rest of the scum, and no one even seriously considers demanding the least loyalty to their own state."
At the same time, the author notes, Israeli Arabs have no interest in moving to a future Palestinian state. In a reference to a Lieberman proposal, he concludes, "They're not even prepared to remain in place and have the border fence be moved ? leaving them in 'Palestine' without their having to leave their homes."
Finally, we can all begin to sleep well at night, knowing that we can make our Arabs fit any misconceptions we choose. We can convince ourselves, in the space of an inbox, that Israeli Arabs enjoy unparalleled freedoms and prosperity. We can even accuse them of treason and, at the same time, console ourselves with their lack of true political conviction.
They live here among us. We can look right at them, and not see them at all.
Showing posts with label MP. Show all posts
Showing posts with label MP. Show all posts
Friday, April 13, 2007
Israeli secret police may have set up missing Israeli-Arab lawmaker
Related
A very thin slice of earth
Israeli-Arab lawmaker disappears
---
""Bishara is being persecuted because of his political and ideological views, and because of his national and democratic opinions. Former minister Shulamit Aloni has already told the media recently that she thought Shin Bet would try to set him up and this is what we think has happened. We wish to remove the uncertainty, we have a lot to say, if we were only allowed," he said."
Related
Don't slam Carter; Israel's grip is real | Wake Up From Your Slumber
By Shulamit Aloni
---
A very thin slice of earth
Israeli-Arab lawmaker disappears
---
""Bishara is being persecuted because of his political and ideological views, and because of his national and democratic opinions. Former minister Shulamit Aloni has already told the media recently that she thought Shin Bet would try to set him up and this is what we think has happened. We wish to remove the uncertainty, we have a lot to say, if we were only allowed," he said."
Related
Don't slam Carter; Israel's grip is real | Wake Up From Your Slumber
By Shulamit Aloni
---
Balad demands removal of gag order
Following rumors about circumstances leading to party head MK Azmi Bishara's disappearance, members plan serious PR campaign, threaten to turn to High Court for right to defend Balad Roee Nahmias
Published: 04.12.07, 20:52 / Israel News
| Harmed by rumors surrounding the disappearance of Balad Chairman Azmi Bishara, faction chairman MK Jamal Zahalka said the party would turn to the High Court of Justice if the gag order on the affair was not lifted. "We find ourselves at a dead end since we cannot talk…We have nothing to hide, on the contrary, we have someone to blame. If the court does not order the gag order to be removed on Sunday, we will go to the High Court of Justice," Zahalka told Ynet on Thursday. "We will go all the way to the High Court to realize our right to respond to the fabricated accusations against us, and refute the malicious rumors that are being published through the media," added Zahalka. "Bishara is being persecuted because of his political and ideological views, and because of his national and democratic opinions. Former minister Shulamit Aloni has already told the media recently that she thought Shin Bet would try to set him up and this is what we think has happened. We wish to remove the uncertainty, we have a lot to say, if we were only allowed," he said. When asked if Bishara plans to return to Israel next week, Zahalka said he does not know of such plans. "His return could be sooner, or later. As of yet there is no date." Either way, Balad is serious about the PR attack it plans to launch once the gag order is removed.
Joining forces On Thursday the party heads met with their Hadash party colleagues to discuss strategy. Present at the meeting were Zahalka himself, MK Wasil Taha (Balad) the party's secretary-general Awad Abdel Fattah and Hanan Zoabi. Hadash was represented by its chairman Mohammad Barakeh, MK Dov Khenin, former MK Issam Makhoul and Ayman Odeh. Zahalka said that this meeting was part of a series of meetings with all Israeli-Arab political figures. "We met with the northern and southern branches of the Islamic Movement, the Arab Democratic Party and all the rest… In meetings with Hadash, it was agreed that we are facing a difficult period and we must join forces to prevent a blow to the right to political activity among the Arab public. We will plan techniques, either under the frame of a monitoring committee, or under another frame," said Zahalka. After the meeting, Hadash Chairman Muhammad Barakeh attempted to get a message across to the general public in Israel, telling Ynet that "there is cynical use of what is called legal restrictions or a gag order in order to slander the whole Arab population." "The fact that we sit in Knesset means that we accept the rules applying to the State of Israel and every attempt to push the Arab public or its elected out of legitimacy is a racist, fascist attempt," he added. "We cannot comment on MK Bishara's affair but we can say that since October 2000, 30 investigations against Arab MKs have been opened," ended Barakeh. |
The spectre of Saigon looms over Baghdad
Related
A bloody message from Iraq: nowhere is safe...
---
Leading article
Published: 13 April 2007
The exact death toll had still to be established last night, but the symbolic significance of the attack was instantly clear. A suicide bomber had successfully penetrated the fortified "green zone" in Baghdad and blown himself up inside the cafeteria of the Iraqi parliament. Three MPs were among the eight or more dead; at least 30 people were injured.
For several weeks now, the US military authorities have argued that an upsurge in violence was only to be expected as the new "surge" tactics started to bite. The enemy, they reasoned, would fight ever more desperately until it was finally overcome. The possibility that there might be a different explanation - that the "surge" might simply not be having the desired effect - was not entertained, at least in public pronouncements.
Yesterday's bombing constitutes a direct challenge to the US strategy in Iraq. The last time bombers successfully penetrated the "green zone" was in October 2004. Since then, the only violence had been at the outermost edges; its formidable security had held. That someone was able to pass through the security checks yesterday with explosives sufficient to inflict so much death and destruction means that the "green zone" can no longer be considered impregnable.
It hardly matters whether, as is suspected, the bomber was a security guard to an MP. The fact is that US forces are responsible for making the zone safe, and its security has now been compromised. All the elaborate fortifications and entry procedures will have to be reviewed.
That it was the Iraqi parliament that was targeted conveys an especially dispiriting message. The Parliament represents the last vestige of US (and British) hopes of planting something even faintly recognisable as democracy. The elections in December 2005 were, in retrospect, the high point of optimism for Iraq's future. Iraqis defied the threat of violence to cast their votes with quite extraordinary heroism. Already, though, their ministers and legislators seem estranged from them. If the Parliament is no longer able to meet, or if so many MPs fear for their security that they stop attending, the last chance for an orderly Iraq governed by Iraqis would seem to be gone for good.
The other risk is that any remaining confidence that the Americans are able to keep their allies safe will be undermined. Inside the "green zone" are not just the Iraqi parliament and many US military and diplomatic facilities. The "zone" is also home to many Iraq government offices and foreign representations; several thousand Iraqis live there. If the "zone" is seen to be vulnerable, all trust in the possibility of order spreading out from there to the rest of Baghdad will evaporate. The spectre of a Saigon-style retreat from Baghdad will be harder and harder to dispel.
This is the ninth week of the US "surge". More and more American and Iraqi soldiers are to be seen on Baghdad streets, as the attempt to crack down on the violence gains pace. The greater visibility of US troops, which is an integral part of the strategy, automatically makes them more vulnerable. It is probably inevitable that, even as the number of violent incidents has declined, US military casualties have increased.
For the strategy to work, it must do much more than multiply armed patrols. It must convince Iraqis that law and order can be restored, not just now but in the longer term. It is not just about deterring gunmen and bombers; it is about instilling confidence in the authorities' prospects of success and reducing support for militant sectarianism. The US "surge" already seemed to be in trouble; yesterday's bombing showed that the citadel could be breached. If and when the US abandons Iraq, this day will mark the beginning of that end.
A bloody message from Iraq: nowhere is safe...
---
Leading article
Published: 13 April 2007
The exact death toll had still to be established last night, but the symbolic significance of the attack was instantly clear. A suicide bomber had successfully penetrated the fortified "green zone" in Baghdad and blown himself up inside the cafeteria of the Iraqi parliament. Three MPs were among the eight or more dead; at least 30 people were injured.
For several weeks now, the US military authorities have argued that an upsurge in violence was only to be expected as the new "surge" tactics started to bite. The enemy, they reasoned, would fight ever more desperately until it was finally overcome. The possibility that there might be a different explanation - that the "surge" might simply not be having the desired effect - was not entertained, at least in public pronouncements.
Yesterday's bombing constitutes a direct challenge to the US strategy in Iraq. The last time bombers successfully penetrated the "green zone" was in October 2004. Since then, the only violence had been at the outermost edges; its formidable security had held. That someone was able to pass through the security checks yesterday with explosives sufficient to inflict so much death and destruction means that the "green zone" can no longer be considered impregnable.
It hardly matters whether, as is suspected, the bomber was a security guard to an MP. The fact is that US forces are responsible for making the zone safe, and its security has now been compromised. All the elaborate fortifications and entry procedures will have to be reviewed.
That it was the Iraqi parliament that was targeted conveys an especially dispiriting message. The Parliament represents the last vestige of US (and British) hopes of planting something even faintly recognisable as democracy. The elections in December 2005 were, in retrospect, the high point of optimism for Iraq's future. Iraqis defied the threat of violence to cast their votes with quite extraordinary heroism. Already, though, their ministers and legislators seem estranged from them. If the Parliament is no longer able to meet, or if so many MPs fear for their security that they stop attending, the last chance for an orderly Iraq governed by Iraqis would seem to be gone for good.
The other risk is that any remaining confidence that the Americans are able to keep their allies safe will be undermined. Inside the "green zone" are not just the Iraqi parliament and many US military and diplomatic facilities. The "zone" is also home to many Iraq government offices and foreign representations; several thousand Iraqis live there. If the "zone" is seen to be vulnerable, all trust in the possibility of order spreading out from there to the rest of Baghdad will evaporate. The spectre of a Saigon-style retreat from Baghdad will be harder and harder to dispel.
This is the ninth week of the US "surge". More and more American and Iraqi soldiers are to be seen on Baghdad streets, as the attempt to crack down on the violence gains pace. The greater visibility of US troops, which is an integral part of the strategy, automatically makes them more vulnerable. It is probably inevitable that, even as the number of violent incidents has declined, US military casualties have increased.
For the strategy to work, it must do much more than multiply armed patrols. It must convince Iraqis that law and order can be restored, not just now but in the longer term. It is not just about deterring gunmen and bombers; it is about instilling confidence in the authorities' prospects of success and reducing support for militant sectarianism. The US "surge" already seemed to be in trouble; yesterday's bombing showed that the citadel could be breached. If and when the US abandons Iraq, this day will mark the beginning of that end.
A very thin slice of earth
Related
Israeli-Arab lawmaker disappears
---
Interview: Azmi Bishara
A very thin slice of earth
29 minutes
Head of the National Democratic Assembly political party, Azmi Bashara was born in Nazareth to Christian parents. He is a Palestinian and a citizen of Israel. He represents Israel's Palestinian minority in the Knesset. Bishara studies at Humboldt University in Germany, is head of the philosophy department at Bir Zeit University, and is senior researcher at the Van-Leer Institute in Jerusalem. He was one of the founders of the National Democratic Assembly, or Balad. He describes himself as a humanist, a democrat, a liberal, and a neo-nasserite. In this interview Bishara examines turning Israel into a state of all of its citizens, opposing the institutionalized inequality that exists now between Jewish and Palestinian citizens of Israel. Producer: Ed Sweed (2004)
Produced by Alternate Focus
Based in San Diego, California, Alternate Focus is a 501(c)(3) non-profit educational media group promoting an alternative view of Middle East issues. They use the web, cable and satellite television, and DVDs to showcase media not usually seen by American audiences.
Azmi Bishara
Azmi Bishara is a Palestinian citizen of Israel and a member of the Knesset. He was born in Nazareth to a Christian family in 1956. He studied at Humboldt University in East Germany. He was senior lecturer and head of the Philosophy Department at Bir-Zeit University, and senior researcher at the Van-Leer Institute in Jerusalem. He is also a published novelist.
Bishara started his political activity in 1974 as chairman of the National Committee of Arab High-School Pupils. He was active in the establishment of the students committee and Arab campus organizations at Haifa University and the Hebrew University in Jerusalem. He was also active in the Committee for the Protection of Lands, established in 1976, and against the Israeli occupation of the territories.
Bishara was one of the founders and heads the National Democratic Alliance (Balad), that ran in the elections to the 14th Knesset together with Hadash, and a member of the 14th Knesset. He defines himself as a humanist, democrat, liberal and Neo-Nasserite. He advocates turning the State of Israel into a state of all its citizens and the granting of cultural autonomy to the Arabs in Israel, and a bi-national solution to the Israeli-Palestinian problem.
His brother, Marwan Bishara, also appears in this database of writers on the situation in Palestine/Israel.
Depending on availability of the US National Public Radio archives, you may be able to hear an interview with Azmi Bishara which was broadcast on US National Public Radio on 20 June 2001, on All Things Considered. The interview was about a visit that Bishara made to Syria, a visit that caused controversy in Israel and has led to his parliamentary immunity being removed, so that he could be placed on trial. This controversy led to the estabishment of an International Committee for the Protection of Azmi Bishara, comprised of politicians, intellectuals and academics from many countries around the world.
You may also be able to hear an interview with Azmi Bishara which was broadcast on US National Public Radio on 10 October 2000, on All Things Considered. The interview was about an attempt by Israeli Jews to burn down his home in Nazareth.
Israeli-Arab lawmaker disappears
---
Interview: Azmi Bishara
A very thin slice of earth
29 minutes
Head of the National Democratic Assembly political party, Azmi Bashara was born in Nazareth to Christian parents. He is a Palestinian and a citizen of Israel. He represents Israel's Palestinian minority in the Knesset. Bishara studies at Humboldt University in Germany, is head of the philosophy department at Bir Zeit University, and is senior researcher at the Van-Leer Institute in Jerusalem. He was one of the founders of the National Democratic Assembly, or Balad. He describes himself as a humanist, a democrat, a liberal, and a neo-nasserite. In this interview Bishara examines turning Israel into a state of all of its citizens, opposing the institutionalized inequality that exists now between Jewish and Palestinian citizens of Israel. Producer: Ed Sweed (2004)
Produced by Alternate Focus
Based in San Diego, California, Alternate Focus is a 501(c)(3) non-profit educational media group promoting an alternative view of Middle East issues. They use the web, cable and satellite television, and DVDs to showcase media not usually seen by American audiences.
Azmi Bishara
Azmi Bishara is a Palestinian citizen of Israel and a member of the Knesset. He was born in Nazareth to a Christian family in 1956. He studied at Humboldt University in East Germany. He was senior lecturer and head of the Philosophy Department at Bir-Zeit University, and senior researcher at the Van-Leer Institute in Jerusalem. He is also a published novelist.
Bishara started his political activity in 1974 as chairman of the National Committee of Arab High-School Pupils. He was active in the establishment of the students committee and Arab campus organizations at Haifa University and the Hebrew University in Jerusalem. He was also active in the Committee for the Protection of Lands, established in 1976, and against the Israeli occupation of the territories.
Bishara was one of the founders and heads the National Democratic Alliance (Balad), that ran in the elections to the 14th Knesset together with Hadash, and a member of the 14th Knesset. He defines himself as a humanist, democrat, liberal and Neo-Nasserite. He advocates turning the State of Israel into a state of all its citizens and the granting of cultural autonomy to the Arabs in Israel, and a bi-national solution to the Israeli-Palestinian problem.
His brother, Marwan Bishara, also appears in this database of writers on the situation in Palestine/Israel.
Depending on availability of the US National Public Radio archives, you may be able to hear an interview with Azmi Bishara which was broadcast on US National Public Radio on 20 June 2001, on All Things Considered. The interview was about a visit that Bishara made to Syria, a visit that caused controversy in Israel and has led to his parliamentary immunity being removed, so that he could be placed on trial. This controversy led to the estabishment of an International Committee for the Protection of Azmi Bishara, comprised of politicians, intellectuals and academics from many countries around the world.
You may also be able to hear an interview with Azmi Bishara which was broadcast on US National Public Radio on 10 October 2000, on All Things Considered. The interview was about an attempt by Israeli Jews to burn down his home in Nazareth.
Israeli-Arab lawmaker disappears
Analysis
Joshua BrilliantUPI Israel Correspondent
April 13, 2007
TEL AVIV -- An Arab member of Israel's Knesset who is abroad while security authorities investigate his alleged offenses symbolizes the deep division and suspicions between the country's Jewish majority and Arab minority.
Azmi Bishara, 51, heads Balad - the National Democratic Assembly that has three seats in Israel's 120-member legislature. He spent the Easter holiday with his family in Amman, met Jordan's foreign minister - and disappeared.
Rumors abound: He requested asylum in Qatar, he decided to quit the Knesset (Parliament) and not return to Israel; he is going to Spain, France, Egypt, and India; or he is still in Jordan, keeping a low profile and not granting interviews. The chairman of Balad's Knesset faction, Jamal Zahalka, said in a telephone interview that he had not talked to Bishara in the past two days and did not know his whereabouts.
Bishara "will return shortly or not [so] shortly," said his aide, Badran Ezz Al Dinh.
According to daily Yedioth Ahronoth, Bishara said in Amman that if he would return to Israel he would be detained "immediately."
Government and Knesset spokesmen said that they did not know what Bishara is suspected of having done. Israeli media has been talking of "legal obstacles" to reporting the facts. The Palestinian Maan news agency, which is not subject to Israeli law, gave a reason for this approach: a gag order.
Two prominent politicians nevertheless hinted suspicions.
"Long ago he crossed the boundary lines" of what a Knesset member may do while fulfilling his duties, said education minister Yuli Tamir.
Bishara made several trips to Syria and Lebanon and met officials including Syrian President Bashar Al Assad. Israeli law bans unauthorized trips to enemy states but Bishara said that he was fulfilling his duties as a member of the Knesset and therefore had full parliamentary immunity.
The Knesset then amended the law, also banning legislators' trips to enemy states - and Bishara went again.
Knesset Member Danny Yatom, a former head of the Mossad spy service, said that Bishara demonstrated "a pattern of behavior that might be worse than anything we've known."
Bishara's trips to enemy states would obviously arouse suspicions that he met foreign agents and passed information. That would certainly be a good reason to stay away.
Israeli security officials who have experience fighting hostile organizations are known to have examined their finances to try to plug their sources. Balad seemed to have a lot of money during the 2006 election campaign, and the state comptroller said in a report that its accounts presented to him "were not complete."
Zahalka denied "all the accusations" and accused the authorities of a "frame-up."
"They are trying to control the political activities of Palestinians in Israel and to oppress any national dimension of [our] politics," he charged.
Bishara has been "one of the most successful intellectual, charismatic politicians" that local Arabs have had, observed Adel Manaa, director of the Center for the Study of the Arab Society in Israel at Jerusalem's Van Leer Institute.
Born in Nazareth in 1956, he received a Ph.D. in philosophy in Berlin, headed the philosophy department at Birzeit University in the West Bank, helped establishing Balad in 1995, and joined the Knesset the following year.
He is an Arab nationalist, an advocate of Pan-Arabism and as such kept hammering at the Jewish state. "Israel is the biggest robbery of the century ... Return Palestine to us and take your democracy with you. We, the Arabs, are not interested," he reportedly said.
To some Israelis he was a person who ruined efforts at a dialogue. His success was ominous.
Yoel Hasson, a former deputy head of the Shabak security service and now a member of the hawkish Israel Beitenu Knesset faction, noted that seven years ago Balad was just a group of some 200 intellectuals. However, in last year's Knesset elections Balad won 72,066 votes. Some Arabs boycotted the elections. According to As'ad Ghanem of Haifa University's School of Political Science, Arab participation in Israeli elections has been dropping at a faster rate than Jewish turnout, and the most common reason was "political protest against the situation of the Palestinians in Israel."
Documents that Arab intellectuals published in recent months have been demanding changes in Israel's character from being a Jewish state to a bi-national entity, "cultural autonomy," and giving the Arabs, who are almost 20 percent of the population, a right to veto laws.
A recent public-opinion poll by Haifa University's Dean of Social Sciences Professor Sammy Smooha showed that Jews and Arabs felt threatened.
The Arabs fear that the Jews would deny them civil rights, confiscate their lands, and transfer some of them to the Palestinian Authority. The Jews feared that the Arabs would outnumber them and join the violent struggle that the West Bank and Gaza Palestinians have been waging.
The Shabak security service reportedly warned of a "rise of subversive elements," and according to Ma'ariv some Shabak officials described Israeli Arabs as "a real strategic threat." Smooha found that 48 percent of the Arabs justified Hezbollah bombings of Israel during the last war.
And thus Uri Dromi, of the Israel Democracy Institute, recalled having warned an Arab interlocutor that Bishara and the leader of the militant wing of the Israeli Islamic movement, Sheikh Raed Salah, would bring upon Israeli Arabs a second Nakba (catastrophe). The first one was in the 1948 war when hundreds of thousands of Palestinians were forced to flee.
"The majority is not going to commit suicide," Dromi said.
He criticized Bishara for going to Lebanon during the Second Lebanon War and expressing support for Hezbollah. "He sits in Syria and talks to the heads of the terrorist organizations. He is stretching freedom of expression with a chutzpah ... and a democracy has a right to defend itself," Dromi argued.
Azmi Bishara, 51, heads Balad - the National Democratic Assembly that has three seats in Israel's 120-member legislature. He spent the Easter holiday with his family in Amman, met Jordan's foreign minister - and disappeared.
Rumors abound: He requested asylum in Qatar, he decided to quit the Knesset (Parliament) and not return to Israel; he is going to Spain, France, Egypt, and India; or he is still in Jordan, keeping a low profile and not granting interviews. The chairman of Balad's Knesset faction, Jamal Zahalka, said in a telephone interview that he had not talked to Bishara in the past two days and did not know his whereabouts.
Bishara "will return shortly or not [so] shortly," said his aide, Badran Ezz Al Dinh.
According to daily Yedioth Ahronoth, Bishara said in Amman that if he would return to Israel he would be detained "immediately."
Government and Knesset spokesmen said that they did not know what Bishara is suspected of having done. Israeli media has been talking of "legal obstacles" to reporting the facts. The Palestinian Maan news agency, which is not subject to Israeli law, gave a reason for this approach: a gag order.
Two prominent politicians nevertheless hinted suspicions.
"Long ago he crossed the boundary lines" of what a Knesset member may do while fulfilling his duties, said education minister Yuli Tamir.
Bishara made several trips to Syria and Lebanon and met officials including Syrian President Bashar Al Assad. Israeli law bans unauthorized trips to enemy states but Bishara said that he was fulfilling his duties as a member of the Knesset and therefore had full parliamentary immunity.
The Knesset then amended the law, also banning legislators' trips to enemy states - and Bishara went again.
Knesset Member Danny Yatom, a former head of the Mossad spy service, said that Bishara demonstrated "a pattern of behavior that might be worse than anything we've known."
Bishara's trips to enemy states would obviously arouse suspicions that he met foreign agents and passed information. That would certainly be a good reason to stay away.
Israeli security officials who have experience fighting hostile organizations are known to have examined their finances to try to plug their sources. Balad seemed to have a lot of money during the 2006 election campaign, and the state comptroller said in a report that its accounts presented to him "were not complete."
Zahalka denied "all the accusations" and accused the authorities of a "frame-up."
"They are trying to control the political activities of Palestinians in Israel and to oppress any national dimension of [our] politics," he charged.
Bishara has been "one of the most successful intellectual, charismatic politicians" that local Arabs have had, observed Adel Manaa, director of the Center for the Study of the Arab Society in Israel at Jerusalem's Van Leer Institute.
Born in Nazareth in 1956, he received a Ph.D. in philosophy in Berlin, headed the philosophy department at Birzeit University in the West Bank, helped establishing Balad in 1995, and joined the Knesset the following year.
He is an Arab nationalist, an advocate of Pan-Arabism and as such kept hammering at the Jewish state. "Israel is the biggest robbery of the century ... Return Palestine to us and take your democracy with you. We, the Arabs, are not interested," he reportedly said.
To some Israelis he was a person who ruined efforts at a dialogue. His success was ominous.
Yoel Hasson, a former deputy head of the Shabak security service and now a member of the hawkish Israel Beitenu Knesset faction, noted that seven years ago Balad was just a group of some 200 intellectuals. However, in last year's Knesset elections Balad won 72,066 votes. Some Arabs boycotted the elections. According to As'ad Ghanem of Haifa University's School of Political Science, Arab participation in Israeli elections has been dropping at a faster rate than Jewish turnout, and the most common reason was "political protest against the situation of the Palestinians in Israel."
Documents that Arab intellectuals published in recent months have been demanding changes in Israel's character from being a Jewish state to a bi-national entity, "cultural autonomy," and giving the Arabs, who are almost 20 percent of the population, a right to veto laws.
A recent public-opinion poll by Haifa University's Dean of Social Sciences Professor Sammy Smooha showed that Jews and Arabs felt threatened.
The Arabs fear that the Jews would deny them civil rights, confiscate their lands, and transfer some of them to the Palestinian Authority. The Jews feared that the Arabs would outnumber them and join the violent struggle that the West Bank and Gaza Palestinians have been waging.
The Shabak security service reportedly warned of a "rise of subversive elements," and according to Ma'ariv some Shabak officials described Israeli Arabs as "a real strategic threat." Smooha found that 48 percent of the Arabs justified Hezbollah bombings of Israel during the last war.
And thus Uri Dromi, of the Israel Democracy Institute, recalled having warned an Arab interlocutor that Bishara and the leader of the militant wing of the Israeli Islamic movement, Sheikh Raed Salah, would bring upon Israeli Arabs a second Nakba (catastrophe). The first one was in the 1948 war when hundreds of thousands of Palestinians were forced to flee.
"The majority is not going to commit suicide," Dromi said.
He criticized Bishara for going to Lebanon during the Second Lebanon War and expressing support for Hezbollah. "He sits in Syria and talks to the heads of the terrorist organizations. He is stretching freedom of expression with a chutzpah ... and a democracy has a right to defend itself," Dromi argued.
Subscribe to:
Comments (Atom)