Senior Advisors

Hanan Ashrawi

Hanan Mikhail Ashrawi, M.A., Ph.D.,  is an elected member of the Executive Committee of the Palestine Liberation Organization (PLO), making history as the first woman to hold a seat in the highest executive body in Palestine. She is also an elected member of thePalestinian Legislative Council, Palestinian National Council and Palestinian Central Council. Dr. Ashrawi has been actively engaged in the planning and implementation of programs and systems of reform, accountability, and the rule of law.  From 1996-1998 she served as theMinister of Higher Education and Research. Dr. Ashrawi was also a member of the Political and Diplomatic Committees during the Intifada and the negotiations. In 1991, she was named Official Spokesperson of thePalestinian Delegation to the Middle East Peace Process and a member of the Leadership committee. Dr. Ashrawi is the Founder and Head of the Executive Committee of the Palestinian Initiative for the Promotion of Global Dialogue and Democracy- MIFTAH, Founder and board member of the National Coalition for Accountability and Integrity – AMAN, Dr. Ashrawi is also founder and Commissioner of theIndependent Commission for Human Rights (ICHR) and served as its first Commissioner General. As head of the PLC’s Special Committee on Reform and Coordinator of the Steering Committee of the National Reform Committee.

Dr. Ashrawi holds a B.A. and an M.A. from the American University of Beirut and a Ph.D. from the University of Virginia, Charlottesville. From 1973-95, Dr. Ashrawi was a faculty member of Birzeit University, held the positions of Dean, Faculty of Arts; Founder and Chairperson, Department of English; and Founder and Head of Birzeit University Legal Aid Committee/ Human Rights Documentation Project.

Throughout, Dr. Ashrawi has been an ardent advocate of human rights and gender issues and has made major contributions to peace making and nation building. She is the recipient of numerous international peace, human rights and democracy awards, such as the Mahatma Gandhi International Award for Peace and Reconciliation, the Olof Palme Award, Sydney Peace Prize, the Defender of Democracy Award, the Jane Addams International Women’s Leadership Award, Distinguished Alumna Award of the University of Virginia Women’s Center, and Distinguished Lifetime Achievements AUB Alumni.

She is also the author of many books, articles, poems and short stories on Palestinian politics, culture and literature. Her book This Side of Peace published by Simon & Schuster in 1995, gained world recognition. She has been highly acclaimed for her work both in education and world affairs.

Dr. Ashrawi serves on the Advisory Board of several international and local organizations including the World Bank Middle East and North Africa (MENA), United Nations Research Institute for Social Development (UNRISD) and the International Human Rights Council.  She has also received several Honorary Doctorate Degrees from universities in the United States, Canada, Europe and the Arab World, such as The American University of Beirut (AUB), The American University in Cairo (AUC), Saint Mary’s University in Canada, and Smith College in the United States.

Dr. Hanan Mikhail-Ashrawi is married to Emile Ashrawi and has two daughters, Amal and Zeina.



General Brent Scowcroft, Eric Melby and Henry Siegman

General Brent Scowcroft, Eric Melby and Henry Siegman

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Can Kerry Rescue a Two-State Peace Accord?

If the purpose of President Barack Obama’s visit to Israel was to dispel the view held by most Israelis, and by rightwing American Jewish supporters of AIPAC and the Likud’s annexationist policies, that he is hostile to Israel and to the Zionist enterprise, it must be judged a brilliant success. Not everyone was converted, but his words and personal charm seemed to have worked wonders on most Israelis.
While his visit was not expected to revive prospects for a two-state solution, he spoke far more directly and energetically about the need for an end to Israel’s occupation and about his own continuing efforts to help the parties achieve an agreement than his recent disengagement from the peace process prepared anyone for. But nothing he said in Jerusalem or Ramallah–and, more importantly, that he failed to say–justifies an expectation that his reengagement will be of a kind that has any chance of preventing Benjamin Netanyahu’s new government from finally nailing down the coffin in which they are burying a viable two-state outcome.

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