Sharansky quitting politics
From JTA:
Natan Sharansky is quitting Israeli politics.
Sources close to the Soviet refusenik-turned-Likud lawmaker said Wednesday he would step down from the Knesset in coming days.
He is expected to take up a full-time position at the Shalem Center, a conservative Jerusalem think tank.
Sharansky was one of the best-known Jewish dissidents in the former Soviet Union.
Having spent many years in KGB custody, he was released in 1986 and moved to Israel.
He entered politics in 1996 with the new immigrant party Yisrael Ba’Aliyah, eventually serving as a Cabinet minister. He resigned from Prime Minister Ariel Sharon’s government last year to protest the looming Gaza Strip withdrawal. That move coincided with the publication of his book “The Case for Democracy,” which was co-authored by Israeli diplomat Ron Dermer and drew praise from President Bush. Sharansky is widely expected to write a new book on geopolitics.
