NAZARETH, Israel, Feb. 27 (IslamOnline & News Agencies) - Prominent Arab Israeli MP Azmi Bishara went on trial Wednesday over statements in which he reportedly supported Lebanon's Hezbollah, as dozens of his supporters clashed with the Nazareth court security guards, news agencies reported.

Some 800 Bishara supporters protested outside the court in Israel's largest Arab town of Nazareth at the opening of the trial, along with several members of parliament from Britain, Norway and Sweden, reported Agence France-Presse (AFP).

A one-time candidate for prime minister, Bishara is charged with both organizing illegal trips for Arab Israelis to Syria, and with incitement over remarks he made in Syria backing "popular resistance" against Israeli occupation.

This is his second trial - the first, dealing with the trips to Syria, opened one month after the Israeli parliament lifted his immunity.

Bishara, 45, a Christian professor, has been charged over remarks which prompted one right-wing Israeli MP to call for him to be put before a firing squad.

Bishara made his speech at a ceremony marking the first anniversary of Syrian president Hafez al-Assad's death, flanked by Sheikh Hassan Nasrallah, leader of Hezbollah whose sustained resistance forced Israel to withdraw from South Lebanon.

"The Israeli government ... proposes as the sole alternative to total war, submission to Israeli terms," he said at the memorial, calling for a "united Arab policy to enable the Palestinians to persevere with their resistance."

He called for "expanding the dimensions of the resistance to Israel and enabling the people to struggle and fight."

The prosecution claims that Bishara also called on the Palestinians to use the same strategies in thier struggle against Israel.

The Israeli parliament lifted Bishara's immunity in November 2001. It took similar action 15 years ago against another Arab Israeli MP for political reasons, but that was overturned by the supreme court.

Israeli Arabs - effectively Palestinians who stayed in Israel when the Jewish state was created in 1948, and their descendents - number around one million people, or 18.6 percent of the population of Israel.

Meanwhile in Gaza City, some 200 Palestinians demonstrated in support of Bishara in front of the Palestinian Authority headquarters.

If convicted, the offense carries a maximum sentence of three years in jail.

Prior to the opening of the trial, Bishara's attorney said Wednesday that the proceedings would be a "political trial" and that Bishara's defense would be built accordingly, according to Israeli daily newspaper, Ha’aretz.

"This is an attempt by the political and security institution to change the status-quo of the Israeli-Arabs," said Bishara, who met with attorneys in Nazareth Tuesday, February 26.

Even if he is acquitted in the trial, it will only be "the beginning of the campaign," Ha’aretz quoted Bishara as saying