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Natan Sharansky, 58, has decided to leave Israeli politics and move on to research fellowship at the Shalem Center in Jerusalem (AP file)
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| By israelinsider staff and partners October 11, 2006 |
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Natan Sharansky, the famed Soviet dissident and a favorite of U.S. President George W. Bush, disclosed on Wednesday that he would retire from Israeli politics, an aide said.
Sharanksy, 58, could not be reached for comment, but aide Florina Elman-Levine confirmed his decision. Sharansky will not speak publicly until he meets on Sunday with the head of his Likud Party, Benjamin Netanyahu, she said.
Israel Radio reported Wednesday that Sharansky would become a research fellow at the Shalem Center, a conservative Jerusalem think tank. A spokesman for the center would not confirm the report.
"Following the March 28 election, when the Likud dropped to 12 seats from 40 seats in the previous Knesset, Sharansky said publicly that he would have quit the Knesset if it would have enabled his longtime colleague Yuli Edelstein to enter. Edelstein was 15th on the Likud list, behind former MK Haim Katz (No. 13), who will join the Knesset in place of Sharansky, and former MK Uzi Landau (No. 14). Sources close to him said he felt unchallenged and did not see himself as a legislator," reported the Jerusalem Post.
In the 1970s, the man then known as Anatoly Sharansky became the preeminent symbol of the struggle of Soviet Jews to be allowed to emigrate to Israel, serving nine years in a Soviet gulag before realizing his dream in 1986.
Here, he took a hard line against the Arabs and became a champion for the rights of Soviet immigrants, entering politics in 1996 at the head of an immigrants' party. But although his international renown never translated into star political power in Israel, he did serve in various Cabinets, pushing his hawkish agenda, and later merging his party with the hardline Likud.
Sharansky was a vocal opponent of Israel's withdrawal from the Gaza Strip last year and resigned his Cabinet post to protest the pullout.
Sharansky's lackluster domestic political fortunes contrasted with his success abroad, where he caught Bush's attention with his book, "The Case for Democracy: The Power of Freedom to Overcome Tyranny and Terror." Bush invited Sharansky to the White House to discuss it and has called Sharansky his "soul mate," citing him as an inspiration for Washington's campaign for worldwide democracy.
While Sharansky never became the leader many Israelis expected him to be, his reputation remains formidable, said Prof. Avraham Diskin, a political expert at Hebrew University.
"There are few dissidents from the former Soviet Union who are so famous worldwide, and he wrote a book that the leader of the free world keeps under his pillow," Diskin said. "You can't say he hasn't had an impressive career."
AP contributed to this article.
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