Why “Israel” is after me

Source: The Los Angeles Times, 3-5-2007
By Azmi Bishara
Amman, Jordan - I am a Palestinian from Nazareth, a citizen of "Israel" and was, until last month, a member of the "Israeli" parliament.
But now, in an ironic twist reminiscent of France's Dreyfus affair - in which a French Jew was accused of disloyalty to the state - the government of "Israel" is accusing me of aiding the enemy during "Israel's" failed war against Lebanon in July.
"Israeli" police apparently suspect me of passing information to a foreign agent and of receiving money in return. Under "Israeli" law, anyone - a journalist or a personal friend - can be defined as a "foreign agent" by the "Israeli" security apparatus. Such charges can lead to life imprisonment or even the death penalty.
The allegations are ridiculous. Needless to say, Hizbullah - "Israel's" enemy in Lebanon - has independently gathered more security information about "Israel" than any Arab Knesset member could possibly provide. What's more, unlike those in "Israel's" parliament who have been involved in acts of violence, I have never used violence or participated in wars. My instruments of persuasion, in contrast, are simply words in books, articles and speeches.
These trumped-up charges, which I firmly reject and deny, are only the latest in a series of attempts to silence me and others involved in the struggle of the Palestinian Arab citizens in "Israel" to live in a state of all its citizens, not one that grants rights and privileges to Jews that it denies to non-Jews.
When "Israel" was established in 1948, more than 700,000 Palestinians were expelled or fled in fear. My family was among the minority that escaped that fate, remaining instead on the land where we had long lived. The "Israeli" state, established exclusively for Jews, embarked immediately on transforming us into foreigners in our own country.
For the first 18 years of "Israeli" statehood, we, as "Israelis", lived under military rule with pass laws that controlled our every movement. We watched Jewish (Zionist) "Israeli" towns spring up over destroyed Palestinian villages.
Today we make up 20% of "Israel's" population. We do not drink at separate water fountains or sit at the back of the bus. We vote and can serve in the parliament. But we face legal, institutional and informal discrimination in all spheres of life.
More than 20 "Israeli" laws explicitly privilege Jews over non-Jews. The Law of Return, for example, grants automatic citizenship to Jews from anywhere in the world. Yet Palestinian refugees are denied the right to return to the country they were forced to leave in 1948. The Basic Law of Human Dignity and Liberty - "Israel's" "Bill of Rights" - defines the state as "Jewish" rather than a state for all its citizens. Thus "Israel" is more for Jews living in Los Angeles or Paris than it is for native Palestinians.
"Israel" acknowledges itself to be a state of one particular religious group. Anyone committed to democracy will readily admit that equal citizenship cannot exist under such conditions.
Most of our children attend schools that are separate but unequal. According to recent polls, two-thirds of "Israeli" Jews would refuse to live next to an Arab and nearly half would not allow a Palestinian into their home.
I have certainly ruffled feathers in "Israel". In addition to speaking out on the subjects above, I have also asserted the right of the Lebanese people, and of Palestinians in the West Bank and Gaza Strip, to resist "Israel's" illegal military occupation. I do not see those who fight for freedom as my enemies.
This may discomfort Jewish "Israelis", but they cannot deny us our history and identity any more than we can negate the ties that bind them to world Jewry. After all, it is not we, but "Israeli" Jews who immigrated to this land. Immigrants might be asked to give up their former identity in exchange for equal citizenship, but we are not immigrants.
During my years in the Knesset, the attorney general indicted me for voicing my political opinions (the charges were dropped), lobbied to have my parliamentary immunity revoked and sought unsuccessfully to disqualify my political party from participating in elections - all because I believe "Israel" should be a state for all its citizens and because I have spoken out against "Israeli" military occupation. Last year, Cabinet member Avigdor Lieberman - an immigrant from Moldova - declared that Palestinian citizens (1948-Palestinians) of "Israel" "have no place here," that we should "take our bundles and get lost." After I met with a leader of the Palestinian Authority from Hamas, Lieberman called for my execution.
The "Israeli" authorities are trying to intimidate not just me but all Palestinian citizens (1948-Palestinians) of "Israel". But we will not be intimidated. We will not bow to permanent servitude in the land of our ancestors or to being severed from our natural connections to the Arab world. Our community leaders joined together recently to issue a blueprint for a state free of ethnic and religious discrimination in all spheres. If we turn back from our path to freedom now, we will consign future generations to the discrimination we have faced for six decades.
Americans know from their own history of institutional discrimination the tactics that have been used against civil rights leaders. These include telephone bugging, police surveillance, political delegitimization and criminalization of dissent through false accusations. "Israel" is continuing to use these tactics at a time when the world no longer tolerates such practices as compatible with democracy.
Why then does the U.S. government continue to fully support a country whose very identity and institutions are based on ethnic and religious discrimination that victimize its own citizens?
Azmi Bishara was a member of the Knesset until his resignation in April.