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.

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