(1956- ) A Palestinian Arab Israeli political and intellectual figure. Prior to his entry into political life, he taught for ten years at Birzeit University in the West Bank, including heading the Philosophy and Cultural Studies Department from 1994-1996. A founder and member of the National Democratic Assembly party, also known as Balad, Bishara was elected to the Israeli parliament in 1996. In 2007, he co-authored “The Democratic Constitution,” which calls for legal and civic equality in Israel as well as “collective rights,” effectively making Israel a multicultural state and therefore at odds with its mission to be a Jewish national homeland. Bishara resigned from parliament in 2007 and is currently in self-exile after Israel opened a criminal investigation against him, claiming that he offered information to Hezbollah during Israel’s 2006 Lebanon War; Bishara has denied these accusations. In 2011, the Israeli parliament stripped him of his pension. He currently resides in Qatar and serves as the General Director of the Arab Center for Research and Policy Studies. See “A lawmaker vanishes.” The Economist. 19 April 2007. http://www.economist.com/node/9047260?story_id=E1_JDQSNGD; and Stoil, Rebecca Ann. “Knesset passes law revoking citizenship for treason.” Jerusalem Post. 28 March 2011. http://www.jpost.com/DiplomacyAndPolitics/Article.aspx?id=214202.  http://www.justvision.org/glossary/bishara-azmi