This Side of Peace; A Personal Account

New York: Simon & Schuster, 1995. First Printing. Hardcover. Very good/Very good. Sigrid Estrade (Front jacket photograph). 24 cm, 318 pages. Illustrations. Map. Index. Pencil erasure residue on fep. The author was at one time the spokesperson for Palestinians in the occupied territories. Hanan Daoud Khalil Ashrawi (born October 8, 1946) is a Palestinian legislator, activist, and scholar. She was a protégée, colleague and friend of Edward Said. Ashrawi was an important leader during the First Intifada, served as the official spokesperson for the Palestinian Delegation to the Middle East peace process, and has been elected numerous times to the Palestinian Legislative Council. Ashrawi is a member of former Palestinian Prime Minister Salam Fayyad's Third Way party. She is the first woman elected to the Palestinian National Council. Ashrawi serves on the Advisory Board of several 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. Derived from a Kirkus review: The autobiography of perhaps the most visible Palestinian spokesperson after Yasir Arafat. Ashrawi was head of the English department of Birzeit University in the Israeli-occupied West Bank when she burst into popular consciousness in 1988 on Nightline. The brilliant, outspoken Ashrawi was labeled the star of that first-ever public debate between Palestinian leaders and Israeli officials. Here she writes about her more than two decades of political activism as a Palestinian and a feminist. Riveting are her descriptions of the processes that have led to the current peace talks between Israel and the Palestinians. Her revelations of behind-the-scenes debates and political maneuvers are a must-read for anyone interested in Middle East politics. Ashrawi sheds light on the tension between Palestinians inside and outside the territories that is crucial to understanding current and past events. Ashrawi offers a vivid rendering of the Palestinian side of events.