Host: Middle East and politics is complicated and often anarchy. It inspires passionate argument and it takes amities in the royalties. It’s also the lastly conducted by men with the odd exception. The most notable is perhaps Hanan Ashrawi, a Palestinian academic and political activist who has been deeply involved in causes in her homeland for over 30 years. Born to Christian-Palestinian parents in 1946, Ashrawi grew up to be a professor at English Literature. From 1973 to 1995, she taught at the Birzeit University in Ramallah, in the middle of the West Bank.
With her father, who was one of the founding members of the Palestine Liberation Organization, politics was prophesized. In 1974, she was into teaching and publishing writings on Palestinian culture, she founded the Legal Aid Committee and Human Rights Action Project. 14 years later, she joined the Intifada Political Committee. In this role, she appeared on American TV’s Night Line Program in April 1988 which catapulted her to global recognition as a voice of reason and the debate over the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.
Mike Obrien: The level of violence is unacceptable. The need for peace is urgent. The British government wants to talk about science and see if there is a way to move the whole process forward. Hanan Ashrawi is one of the leading Palestinian, she has been part of peace negotiations in the past and she’s in many ways a voice of sanity in a situation where we have suicide bombing and violence and repression of the Palestinian people. So I wanted to talk through some of the issues with her. There is contact between Israelis and Palestinians. There are people who want to work towards peace. The British Government is trying to encourage those efforts. So I hope that our contact is like the other one I had today will provide encouragement for those who want to work towards the a peace settlement.
Host: After Yasser Arafat and Yitzhak Rabin’s historic signing of the Oslo Accord in the early 90’s in which self rule for Palestine was established, Ashrawi was made head of the Propriety Committee of the Palestine Independent Commission for Citizen’s Rights. Other government positions followed.
But in 1998, she resigned from the post as Education Minister, protesting about the political corruption and Arafat’s handling the peace talks. Two years later, Ashrawi founded a new initiative. Dubbed the MIFTAH, it’s a Jerusalem-based institution working towards fostering democracy and good governance within Palestinian society.
Its aims include reinforcing the Palestinian state-building process and increasing global awareness of regional issues. In November, 2003, the New South Wales premier, Bob Carr presented Ashwari with the Sydney Peace Prize. The award was boycotted by many concerts in the city of Sydney and Jewish groups also criticized her selection. Ashrawi was surprised by the level of animosity she encountered in the countries so far from home. Her speech emphasized the importance of cooperation and understanding.
Harar Ashrawi: There can be no legitimacy for Israel without the Palestinians and there can be no legitimate Palestinian state without sharing the land of Palestine and recognizing the legitimacy of the state of Israel. So from here it’s neither the mentality of the revolution or militarism or unilateralism nor the mentality of the occupation and control and coercion but the mentality and attitude of humanity of warmth of eternity and sisterhood and of genuine recognition and validation of our collective, narrative and of our distinctive identities. I do love you all wholeheartedly. Thank you.
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