ALTHOUGH he is mostly based in Amman, the capital of Jordan, which enjoys full diplomatic relations with Israel, Palestinian-Arab Knesset member Azmi Bishara chose the Israeli Embassy in Cairo to submit his resignation from parliament this week during a 24-hour visit to Egypt. The resignation comes after a month-long media campaign against Bishara, who could be facing charges of treason according to the Israeli press. In response, the Director-General of the Knesset Avi Plashinkov immediately closed Bishara's office in Jerusalem, although his immunity ends only 48 hours following his resignation. Bishara left Israel and the occupied territories a month ago on an Arab tour before the media campaign began. He will be replaced in the Knesset by Said Naffaa of the Arab-Druze community who refused to enlist in the Israeli army and served three jail sentences. In an interview with Al-Ahram Weekly from Doha last week, Bishara said he had wanted to resign from the Knesset last year, where he had served as a legislator since 1996, and pursue his other intellectual and cultural activities. He added that he had postponed his decision in response to his party's request. When legal sources recently leaked information to the Israel press about a secret investigation on Bishara related to "contact with the enemy during wartime" he put on hold his decision to resign in order to keep his parliamentary immunity. By last week, however, Bishara was ready to "throw this immunity at them anyway", he told the Weekly. Bishara's resignation means immediate arrest once he returns to Israel, which he does not intend to do immediately. He said, however, that he will do so once he decides on how he'll handle what he described as the "the new rules of the game". Bishara denies all the rumoured charges. In his letter of resignation, typewritten in Hebrew, Bishara noted he had been a member of the Knesset since 1996. He referred to his efforts to change Israel's character by saying that he contributed to a "new parliamentary dialogue" in which the Arab population should be regarded as "a national collective". Throughout the past 11 years, Bishara and his party, the National Arab Alliance, advocated the concept of "a state for all its citizens" which has gained momentum within the 1.3 million-strong Arab community but clashes with Israel's identity as a Jewish state. The targeting of Bishara has thus been widely viewed as an attempt to quash this movement and deter like-minded Arab nationalists in Israel. MK Arye Eldad of the National Religious Party said in response to Bishara's resignation: "I bless him for his decision and call on all his friends in the Arab factions to follow his lead and free the Israeli Knesset from the presence of those who aid the enemies of the state." He added that he was "full of hope that Bishara will find political asylum in Syria or with his friends in Hizbullah."
