Dr Hanan Ashrawi

Palestinian Legislative Council Member, Palestinian Territories

Dr Hanan Ashrawi is the Founder and Secretary General of the Palestinian Initiative for the Promotion of Global Dialogue and Democracy. After being denied re-entry to the West Bank in the aftermath of the Six Day War in 1967, she studied for a PhD in Medieval and Comparative Literature at the University of Virginia. She was finally allowed to move back to the West Bank in 1973.

Since then Ashrawi has risen to prominence as a feminist and activist for human rights. She has won election to the Palestinian Legislative Council a number of times, and was a leading figure in the First Intifada. She currently serves on a number of international and domestic advisory boards, including the United Nations Research Institute for Social Development (UNRISD) and the International Human Rights Council.

Ashrawi has also published extensively on the subjects of Palestinian history and literature, including the books The Modern Palestinian Short Story: An Introduction to Practical Criticism and Contemporary Palestinian Poetry and Fiction.