Ashrawi, Hanan (1946–)
Ashrawi, Hanan (1946–)
Palestinian political leader. Name variations: Hanan Mikhail-Ashrawi. Born Hanan Mikhail in Ramallah, about 6 miles north of Jerusalem (which became the Israeli-occupied West Bank) in 1946; youngest of 5 daughters of Daoud (doctor) and Wad'ia Mikhail; attended American University in Beirut, Lebanon, MA in literature (1960s); received a doctorate in English literature at University of Virginia (1981); m. Emile Ashrawi (photographer, filmmaker, and artist); children: two daughters, Amal and Zeina.
Was active in the General Union of Palestinian Students (GUPS); was the only woman from Lebanon on the GUPS delegation at an international conference in Amman, Jordan (1969); joined the teaching staff of Bir Zeit University in the West Bank (1973); rejoined the faculty at Bir Zeit as a professor of English, and became dean of the Faculty of Arts; known in some circles as the "Nightline Palestinian," sought self-determination for her people, espousing pragmatic approaches with calm and projecting an apparent willingness to reason, while continuing to appear on Western evening news shows; quit Palestinian Cabinet post as minister of Higher Education in protest over lack of accountability in the Palestinian government (1998).
See also memoir This Side of Peace: A Personal Account (Simon & Schuster, 1995); Barbara Victor, A Voice of Reason: Hanan Ashrawi and Peace in the Middle East (Harcourt, Brace, 1994); and Women in World History.