Hanan Ashrawi is the most articulate spokesperson of the Palestinian Authority and of the Palestinian people in general. She is a member of the Palestine Liberation Organization (PLO) Central Committee and the first woman elected to the PLO Executive Committee. Ashrawi, who has a Ph.D. in English literature from the University of Virginia, is an advocate of human rights and particularly of women’s rights in Arab society. Her fluent English, her expertise in literature, her familiarity with American culture and politics and her impressive rhetorical skills all make her a very popular interview subject with media outlets around the world. She represents her people’s positions clearly and succinctly as she describes her vision for a just and lasting peace with Israel, sometimes even embarrassing the Israeli representatives who confront her during live broadcasts. The Palestinians could not have a better ambassador than Hanan Ashrawi.
Over the past few months, however, Ashrawi’s tone has changed — more precisely, ever since the Palestinians first launched their campaign for international recognition for Palestine as a member state of the United Nations. During a series of meetings she held with European and US leaders and other people of influence both in the Palestinian Authority and around the world, she began describing what she calls Israeli “crimes.” Slowly but steadily, this articulate spokeswoman has adopted a more militant phraseology that employs extreme descriptions and comparisons, which few Palestinian public figures would use.