ABSTRACT
Dr Azmi Bisharah, a Christian Arab, was born and raised in Nazareth. As a professor of philosophy at Bir Zeit University, his academic research focuses on the philosophy and history of political thought. Among others, he has studied and written on such subjects of interest as Islam and democracy, democratic theory and civic society. In March 1996 he founded the Balad party (Democratic National Alliance-al-Tajma-al-Wattani al-Ademocrati), which called for recognition of the Arab minority in Israel as a national and cultural minority and the formation of the Israeli state into a ‘nation of all its citizens’. Prior to the 1996 elections Balad joined forces with Hadash and formed a new party, five of whose members were elected for the Knesset, among them Dr Bisharah.
