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Dr. Azmi Bishara to be Awarded the IBN RUSHD Prize
October 26, 2002
By IBN RUSHD Fund for Freedom of Thought
The IBN RUSHD PRIZE for Freedom of Thought will be awarded to
Dr. Azmi Bishara on December 14th, 2002 at 11.00 hrs at the Werkstatt
der Kulturen in the German capital Berlin. He is honored for his
special contributions to freedom of speech and democracy in the Arab
World. An independent jury elected Dr. Azmi Bishara.
As an Arabic member of the Knesset he is committed to the right
of the Arabs in Israel; he also support the fight for independence of
the Palestinians living in the West Bank and in the Gaza Strip. 1999 he
ran for prime minister to create a true alternative to the political
line of the Labour-party and the Likud. His aim was to put topics such
as the following on the political agenda: an end to the discrimination
of Israel's Arab citizens, a halt to the expropriation of Arab lands,
the recognition of Arab villages.
Western countries like to call Israel the only liberal democracy
in the Middle East. Bishara questions this claim; he criticises Israel
as a state for part of its citizens only and finds the state of
occupation in its essence similar to the system of Apartheid. His main
point is that, in the long run, Israel cannot remain a Jewish state, if
it wants to remain a democratic state. A truly democratic state had to
separate state and religion and represent the interest of all its
citizens, instead of amalgamating religion and state and thus be able
to instrumentalise religion for political purposes, says Bishara. At
present, Israel's roughly one million Arab citizens, about 20 percent
of its population, were noticeably discriminated against.
Bishara criticised early on the Israeli conditions to
Palestinian autonomy as a "separation without sovereignty".
Only a solution on the basis of equality and justice could be
long-lasting, such as two states for two peoples, or a democratic,
secular, and binational state.
At present, however, Bishara is threatened by a trial in Israel:
his colleagues in parliament voted for lifting his parliamentary
immunity already by the end of 2001. He is still awaiting his trial.
This is a novelty in Israel's history: never before has a political
comment of a member of parliament had legal repercussions.
More about IBN RUSHD Fund for Freedom of
Thought
Fax : +49 ( 0) 2962 80 24 24
e-mail: info@ibn-rushd.org
Tel. : +49 ( 0) 2962 - 5162
web : http://www.ibn-rushd.org
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