Hanan Ashrawi

Hanan Daoud Mikhael Ashrawi born October 8, 1946) is a Palestinian leader, legislator, activist, and scholar who serves as a member of the Leadership Committee and as an official spokesperson of the Palestinian delegation to the Middle East peace process, beginning with the Madrid Peace Conference of 1991.

In 1996, Ashrawi is appointed as the Palestinian Authority Minister of Higher Education and Research.

Prior to this, she had been Dean of the Faculty of Arts at Birzeit University and head of its Legal Aid Committee since the mid-1970s.

Ashrawi is elected to the Palestinian Legislative Council representing Jerusalem in 1996, and she is re-elected for the “Third Way” bloc ticket in 2006.

Making history as the first woman to hold a seat in the highest executive body in Palestine, she is elected as member of the Executive Committee of the Palestine Liberation Organization (PLO) in 2009 and in 2018.

As a civil society activist, she founds the Independent Commission for Human Rights in 1994 and serves as its Commissioner-General until 1995.

In 1998, she also founds MIFTAH, the Palestinian Initiative for the Promotion of Global Dialogue and Democracy and continues to serve as head of its Board of Directors.

In 1999, Ashrawi founds the National Coalition for Accountability and Integrity (AMAN).

Ashrawi serves on the advisory and international boards of several global, regional and local organizations dealing with a variety of issues including human rights, women’s rights, policy formation, peacemaking, and nation-building.

Ashrawi is the recipient of numerous awards from all over the world, including the distinguished French decoration, “d'Officier de l'Ordre National de la Légion d'Honneur” in 2006; the 2005 Mahatma Gandhi International Award for Peace and Reconciliation; the 2003 Sydney Peace Prize; the 2002 Olof Palme Prize; the 1999 International Women of Hope “Bread and Roses”; the Defender of Democracy Award – Parliamentarians for Global Action; the 50 Women of the Century; the 1996 Jane Addams International Women’s Leadership Award; the Pearl S. Buck Foundation Women’s Award; the 1994 Pio Manzu Gold Medal Peace Award; and the 1992 Marissa Bellisario International Peace Award.

She is the author of several books, articles, poems and short stories on Palestinian politics, culture and literature.

Her book This Side of Peace (Simon & Schuster, 1995) earns worldwide recognition.

Ashrawi receives both Bachelor of Arts and Master of Arts degrees from the American University of Beirut and a Doctor of Philosophy degree in Medieval and Comparative Literature from the University of Virginia in the United States.

Moreover, she is the recipient of eleven honorary doctorates from universities in the U.S., Canada, Europe, and the Arab world.

She is married to Emile Ashrawi and has two daughters, Amal and Zeina.

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