Bishara: My three options are martyrdom, exile or jail
Friday, 20 April 2007
Balad Chairman Azmi Bishara told Al-Jazeera in a televised interview Sunday
that an ongoing criminal investigation against him has left him with three
options - martyrdom, exile, or prison.
Bishara added that he is reconsidering his decision to resign from the Knesset
at this time, in the wake of an ongoing criminal investigation against him.
"The investigation made me reconsider [the timing]," he said. "In principle I
will not reconsider the decision to resign."
There is currently a court-imposed gag order on details of the investigation,
which also prevents publication of remarks Bishara himself made during the
interview regarding the nature of the probe.
Bishara said that while he had decided to resign because he had exhausted his
parliamentary efforts, recent developments have caused him to reconsider.
Bishara added that he has yet to decide whether to return to Israel. "I am not
an Israeli democrat," he said. "I am a Palestinian Arab democrat."
Bishara said what he termed the campaign of incitement against him is
well-organized and well-orchestrated. "What concerns me is that the rules of the
game have changed," he said. "That a person of my age and standing has to prove
his innocence and is seen as an enemy."
"I was surprised at the caliber of the injustice that they are preparing. I have
denied all accusations," he said. "What is the meaning of me spending the coming
10 years proving my innocence to the Israelis?
"There is also a cultural question here, what they consider innocent I do not,"
he continued. "How would the innocent prove himself innocent to the criminals
and why?" he said.
Court lifts gag order on existence of gag order in Bishara case
Lifting a rare court order which had forbidden the publication of the existence
of a gag order concerning an investigation into Balad Chairman Azmi Bishara,
Petah Tikva Magistrate's Court on Sunday ruled that the press could discuss the
existence of the probe, but not its substance.
Prior to the Sunday ruling, the press was forbidden even to discuss either the
existence of the investigation or the order that forbade its publication.
The court rejected the request of the Balad party, Haaretz and other media
outlets to remove the gag order, and said that the details of the investigation
must not yet be released, as Bishara has yet to appear before the court.
The court added that "the investigation is being carried out cautiously by
senior investigation officials and under the supervision of the attorney
general."
Exposure of the suspicions against Bishara, it said, would "significantly and
tangibly harm the progress of the investigation."
Following the hearing, MK Jamal Zahalka, chairman of the Balad Knesset faction,
said, "I am willing to refer to the investigation if media outlets release my
statements. We are being subjected to a mudslinging campaign without the ability
to respond, and we are seeking to expose the truth."
Zahalka said Balad, and Bishara himself, were suffering political persecution
and that police were misusing the gag order for their own ends.
"Someone is consciously disseminating false news stories to the media, and this
causes harm, first and foremost, to us," he said.
On Friday, Bishara lashed out against the country's Hebrew-language media,
accusing them of incitement against him.
"The publication of a photograph of my home and its address in newspapers
constitutes incitement to murder. It makes me rethink my position as a Knesset
member," Bishara said in an exclusive interview to the Nazareth radio station
A-Shams, his first interview to electronic media since leaving Israel three
weeks ago.
Bishara said he would grant interviews to other Arabic-language media outlets
over the coming days.
Bishara was guarded in his remarks because of the impossibility of discussing
the reasons behind the announcement of his probable resignation from the
Knesset.
In an interview to the Taibeh-based Arabic magazine Panorama, Bishara said that
the nationalist stream within the Arab public was threatening to Israel. "We do
pose a threat, and that's why we are seen as a danger," Bishara said. "It would
be illogical if we weren't seen as a danger and if we were not opposed," he
said, adding, "we stand against the defective situation of those who are
connected to Israelization and to the regime."
In harshly criticizing the Israeli establishment, Bishara described several
reasons for the rift between Balad and the state.
He says that struggle began in 2000, after the incidents of October [when 13
Israeli Arabs were killed by police fire during riots] and the beginning of the
Al-Aqsa Intifada.
The conflict heated up, partly as a result of the demand to change the character
of the state and Bishara's fight against Zionism. It was further inflamed,
Bishara charged, by the Arab community's demand for administrative autonomy as
well as its "identification with the Lebanese people against the attacks on it"
during last summer's war.
Bishara noted that another Israeli Arab leader, Ra'ad Salah, had been detained
in recent years. "It was because of his position, the Islamic movement and the
hostility toward it ... He was sentenced to 30 months for money laundering and
contact with a foreign agent," Bishara said.
Several institutions abroad have offered to allow Bishara to continue his
literary, academic and political work under their auspices. Bishara refused to
disclose his whereabouts or to say when he would return to Israel, but he has
said that he plans to travel to Qatar on Sunday.
It should be noted that he has visited the country several times over the past
few years, and last month he reported from Doha as a special commentator on the
Arab summit held in the city. He said he plans to attend a conference being held
later this week in Bahrain on Arab nationalism.
"I want my privacy," Bishara said, "I need a few days of quiet in order to think
about what is happening."
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