Hanan Ashrawi is a distinguished Palestinian leader, legislator, activist, and scholar. Born and raised in Ramallah, she received both a BA and an MA from the American University of Beirut and a PhD in medieval and comparative literature from the University of Virginia in the United States. Moreover, she is the recipient of 11 honorary doctorates from universities in the United States, Canada, Europe, and the Arab world. Dr. Ashrawi was dean of the Faculty of Arts at Birzeit University and head of its Legal Aid Committee from the mid-1970s until she began to serve as a member of the Leadership Committee and official spokesperson of the Palestinian delegation to the Middle East peace process beginning with the Madrid Peace Conference of 1991. In 1995, she was appointed Minister of Higher Education and Research in the Palestinian Authority and elected to the Palestinian Legislative Council representing Jerusalem in 1996; she was 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 was elected a member of the Executive Committee of the Palestine Liberation Organization (PLO) in 2009.
As a civil-society activist, Dr. Ashrawi founded the Independent Commission for Human Rights (ICHR) in 1994 and served as its commissioner-general until 1995. In 1998 she founded MIFTAH, the Palestinian Initiative for the Promotion of Global Dialogue and Democracy, where she continues to serve as head of its board of directors. In 1999 she founded the National Coalition for Accountability and Integrity (AMAN). Dr. Ashrawi serves on the advisory boards of several global, regional, and local organizations that deal with such issues as human rights, women’s rights, policy formation, peacemaking, and nation building.
Dr. Ashrawi is the recipient of numerous awards from all over the world, including the distinguished French decoration, Knight of the Legion of Honor (2016), 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,” and many more.
She is the author of several books, articles, poems, and short stories on Palestinian politics, culture, and literature. Dr. Ashrawi is married to Emile Ashrawi and has two daughters, Amal and Zeina.
