Meeting Dr. Hanan Ashrawi at the City Club of Cleveland - April 28, 2006

Dr. Hanan Ashrawi (General Secretary, MIFTAH)

Guest Speaker at the City Club of Cleveland -Friday April 28, 2006

Noted Palestinian legislator and spokeswoman Dr. Hanan Ashrawi was born in 1946, two years before the establishment of Israel reconfigured Palestine, and spent her early years in Ramallah before obtaining her B.A. and M.A. in Literature at the American University in Beirut.

When war broke out in 1967 and Palestine was occupied by Israeli troops, she was unable to return to her home and spent years studying outside the country until granted permission to return in 1973. As a professor at Birzeit University, she became active in Palestinian causes. In 1988 during the first Intifada, Ashrawi joined the Intifada Political Committee. In 1993, she served as official spokesperson of the Palestinian delegation to the Middle East Peace process in Madrid.

In 1993, with the signing of the peace accords by Arafat and Rabin, Palestinian self-rule was established. Ashrawi headed the Preparatory Committee of the Palestinian Independent Commission for Citizen’s Rights in Jerusalem, and was founder and Commissioner General of that committee until 1995. From 1996 to 1998, she served as Minister of Higher Education and Research. In 1996, she won a place on the Palestinian Legislative Council, Jerusalem District.

In 1998, Ashrawi founded MIFTAH, the Palestinian Initiative for the Promotion of Global Dialogue and Democracy, whose mission is “to foster the principles of democracy and effective discussion on the free and candid exchange of information and ideas.”

Ashrawi has served as a member of the Independent International Commission on Kosovo; of the advisory boards of the Council on Foreign Relations, the World Bank Middle East and North Africa Region; and the United Nations Research Institute for Social Development. In 2003 she was awarded the Sydney Peace Foundation Prize: her acceptance speech was “Peace in the Middle East: A Global Challenge and a Human Imperative.”

*It must be noted that Ohio is home to the largest Palestinian community in the Nation.

Meeting Dr. Hanan Ashrawi, City Club of Cleveland, April 28, 2006

Meeting Dr. Hanan Ashrawi, City Club of Cleveland, April 28, 2006

Meeting Dr. Hanan Ashrawi, City Club of Cleveland, April 28, 2006

Meeting Dr. Hanan Ashrawi, City Club of Cleveland, April 28, 2006

Meeting Dr. Hanan Ashrawi, City Club of Cleveland, April 28, 2006

Meeting Dr. Hanan Ashrawi, City Club of Cleveland, April 28, 2006

Meeting Dr. Hanan Ashrawi, City Club of Cleveland, April 28, 2006