Hanan Ashrawi
was born in 1947 in the West Bank town of Ramallah before the
establishment of the State of Israel. She was the youngest of five children
(all daughters) born to a prominent Christian family. She grew up in Amman,
Jordan, where her family, like the majority of Palestinians, was in exile
from their homeland. Ashrawi received her bachelor's degree from the
American University of Beirut and her doctorate in medieval literature from
the University of Virginia. She then returned to the West Bank and realized
for the first time the effects of the Israeli occupation on her people and
homeland, and made a decision that she would rather live in an occupied
Palestine than anywhere else in the world. Ashrawi became a professor of
English at Bir Ziet University, and became actively involved in the PLO,
where she was quickly recognized for her intellect.
In April of 1988, a few months after the birth of the Palestinian Intifada
or uprising, most Americans got their first look at Hanan Ashrawi when she,
along with five other Palestinians and Israelis, were invited to appear on
ABC's Nightline for an extended discussion of the Intifada. Almost
overnight, Ashrawi was able to change the Palestinian stereotype from one of
violence and terrorism, to one of a people that had been unduly oppressed
and thus deserving of some sort of retribution.
In "A Voice of Reason: Hanan Ashrawi and Peace in the Middle East", Barbara
Victor states that Ashrawi was "intellectual, articulate, with a brilliant
command of the English language" and that she "presented that Palestinian
story with eloquence and dignity." Moreover, a review of Ashrawi's book
"This Side of Peace: A Personal Account" in The Economist, stated that
"Hanan Ashrawi's eloquence opened countless minds to the justice of her
cause." Indeed, it has been that eloquence that for a time made her such an
indispensable part of the PLO, and she was asked to draft the Palestinians'
opening address at the 1991 peace talks in Madrid. She also played a key
role in negotiations in Washington, D.C.
During Israeli-Palestinian talks in the early 1990s, Ashrawi gained a
worldwide reputation as an articulate spokesperson for the Palestinian
cause. She is also a well-known human rights and womens rights activist who
turned down the post of Information Minister in the newly-established
Palestinian Authority (fearing she would be running a body focused on
censorship) and instead established the Palestinian Independent Council for
Citizens' Rights. In January of 1995, she was one of a few women elected to
the new Palestinian Council and subsequently accepted the post of Minister
of Higher Education in the Palestinian Authority. She resigned that
position in protest, however, in August of 1996, criticizing Yasser Arafat
over corruption and the handling of peace talks. Ashrawi remains one of
Jerusalem's elected representatives to the Palestinian Council.