DISAPPOINTMENT In recent months, I have had to faced up to a real disappointment. The idea has been with me for many years, which made more difficult than ever to admit it simply was not going to happen the way I have thought it might.
My disillusionment occurred rather recently with the death of the Clown Prince of the Arabic world - Yasser Arafat. I, like many, was concerned about his “replacement” and the direction his polyglot groups of followers – some of whom was erratic by nature, might choose to take on the international stage.
I saw my “plan “progressing” and I became confident that it might be evolving as I thought it might. It has started in 1962 when an attractive Christian girl arrived in Charlottesville, Virginia where she enrolled as a student of Medieval and Comparative Literature at a Graduate and earning her PhD. from Thomas Jefferson's University of Virginia. Born October 8, 1946 at Ramallah, in that time , the British Mandate of Palestine. Her father, known as the founder of the Palestinian Liberation Organization, named her Hanan –“Hanan Daoud Khalil Ashrawi.” Schooled at Ramalla, Hanan graduated from the American University of Beruit, before coming to Virginia. She returned to her homeland as Dr. Hanan Ashrawi and established and headed the English Department of Birzeit University on the West Bank in Palestine.
While serving as Dean of Faculty of Arts at the same university Dr. Ashrawi undertook the study of legal procedure largely because the Israeli military closed the school far too often to suit her. She founded the Zeitgeist University Legal Aid Committee/Human Rights Action Project and during the Intifada uprising, she joined the Intafada Political Committee and served until 1993. When accords were signed by Yasser Arafat and Yitzhak Rabin she was elected a member of the Palestinian Legislative committee,Jerusalem District.
I was encouraged in 1998, when Ashrawi, serving, since 1996, as Palestinian Authority of Higher Education and Research, abruptly resigned her post in protest against Arafat citing instances of political corruption and, especially, his mishandling of peace talks. I was sure, at that time ,my plan for her was working out, at last. It all seemed to be working well, when she was awarded the Aussie's “Sydney Peace Prize”. That honor took on negative overtones when conservative Australians openly decried the choice and called her “a terrorist apologist”.
She has clearly stated her feeling in books, including on from 1995 titled “This Side of Peace: a Personal Account”. We here in America seem to know is Christian woman as a worker on problems concerning world peace and misunderstanding, We have seen her in her role of translator on our TV screen and, more recently as the official “spokesperson” for Palestinian groups on TV. Few of us recall we she was interview guest on “Night Line” ”Barbara Walters” and news programs.
It is time, I feel,that we ought to listen, and perhaps even heed the words of this lady who has been so strategically placed to know what is happening in mid-east.
A.L.M. March 6, 2006 [c-518wds]
