Hanan Ashrawi warns of violence if upcoming talks with Israel fail

Jonathan Curie, San Francisco Chronicle, 11.07. In the past 12 months, Hanan Ashrawi has berated al Qaeda, telling it to "stay out" of Palestinian affairs; repudiated Hamas, charging it behaved like "gangsters" in its takeover of Gaza; and condemned Israel, saying its continued occupation of Palestinian territories has harmed lives and fueled Hamas' political ascension. Ashrawi is an anomaly. One of the few female leaders in Palestinian politics, she has never been afraid to voice her opinions, even if it comes at a personal cost. Ahead of her visit to the Bay Area on Sunday, Ashrawi warned that violence will increase between Israelis and Palestinians if an upcoming Washington-led peace conference doesn't lead to a breakthrough. Speaking about Hamas, which the United States brands a terrorist organization, Hanan Ashrawi said its sway over Gaza has led to an Islamization of the Palestinian territories. "It's important," said Ashrawi, who is Christian, "that we do not become a closed society, absolutist and ideological, and we don't become repressive and curtail personal freedoms. It's a battle for the soul of Palestine."
Ashrawi, who has a doctorate in medieval and comparative literature from the University of Virginia, Charlottesville, is former dean at Birzeit University in the West Bank, a former spokeswoman for the Palestinian delegation to the Middle East peace process, and the Palestinian Authority's former minister of higher education and research. She now heads a Ramallah-based organization called the Palestinian Initiative for the Promotion of Global Dialogue and Democracy.

Coming in the last 15 months of the Bush administration's term in office, the peace talks at Annapolis, Md., may be too little, too late, said Ashrawi - especially if it doesn't lead to a breakthrough on such intractable issues as whether Palestinians and Israelis can share Jerusalem in a two-state scenario.