PROVIDENCE, R.I. [Brown University] — Palestinian leader, legislator, and activist Hanan Ashrawi will visit Brown University Sept. 25 and 26, 2013, to kick off a series of events organized by the Middle East Studies Initiative marking the 20th anniversary of the signing of the Declaration of Principles on the White House lawn. All events in the series, “Oslo is Dead; Long Live Oslo,” are free and open to the public.
On Wednesday, Sept. 25, Ashrawi will deliver a lecture titled “Process Versus Peace,” which will examine how the process took over to displace peace as an objective. A participant and close observer, Ashrawi will present what she sees as the structural, procedural, and substantive flaws inherent in the "peace process" that has been the center of the U.S. policy in the Middle East following the signing of the Oslo Accords in 1993. She will also suggest a framework that could lead to a resolution of the ongoing Israeli-Palestinian conflict.
Ashrawi’s lecture will take place at 4 p.m. in the Salomon Center for Teaching, De Ciccio Family Auditorium. It is free and open to the public and will be streamed live on the Brown website.
On Thursday, Sept. 26, Ashrawi will take part in a panel discussion titled “After Oslo: Critical Conversations on Palestine/Israel,” which will bring together Brown faculty to talk about lessons learned from the Oslo experience. That event will take place at 4 p.m. at the Watson Institute for International Studies, Joukowsky Forum. It is free and open to the public and will be streamed live.
Both events are part of a larger year-long series, “Oslo is Dead; Long Live Oslo,” hosted by the Middle East Studies Initiative, that is organized around the 20th anniversary of the Oslo signing and seek to examine the peace process — what has changed on the ground since the signing and what the possible future of the Palestinian-Israeli conflict may be. The series will include another "Critical Conversation" panel in the spring and a major international conference "New Directions in Palestinian Studies."
These public events will be supplemented by several courses on the Israeli-Palestinian issue, including a new seminar by Beshara Doumani, director of Middle East studies, on the history of Palestinians and the Arab-Israeli conflict, to be offered in the Spring 2014 semester.
“Ever since Israel and the Palestine Liberation Organization signed the Declaration of Principles on the White House Lawn under the watchful gaze of President Clinton in 1993, the ‘Peace Process’ became a household phrase and the centerpiece of U.S. policy in the Middle East,” Douomani said. “The Oslo Accords, as it has become known, has led nowhere, and the lack of progress threatens to drive the region into another major cycle of violence and war. There is perhaps no better place than the University campus for a frank and informed discussion about what happened to the ‘Peace Process’ and where we are going.”
Information on these events can be found on the Middle East Studies website.
Hanan Ashrawi
Hanan Ashrawi is a Palestinian leader, legislator, activist, and scholar. She was the first woman to be elected to the Executive Committee of the Palestine Liberation Organization (2009) and she currently holds a seat in that organization, which is the highest executive body in Palestine. Ashrawi has been a member of the Palestinian Legislative Council since 1996 and was also appointed as the Palestinian Authority Minister of Higher Education and Research in the same year. Ashrawi also served as a member of the Leadership Committee and as an official spokesperson of the Palestinian delegation to the Middle East peace process, beginning with the Madrid Peace Conference of 1991.
As a civil society activist, she founded MIFTAH, the Palestinian Initiative for the Promotion of Global Dialogue and Democracy, in 1999 and continues to serve as head of its board of directors. The same year, Ashrawi founded the National Coalition for Accountability and Integrity (AMAN). Additionally, she is the founder of the Independent Commission for Human Rights (ICHR) and has served as its commissioner since 1994. As an academic, she founded and chaired the Department of English at Birzeit University and became dean of the faculty of arts. She is the recipient of a number of honorary degrees as well as distinguished awards from various international and local organizations.
“Oslo is Dead; Long Live Oslo”
Wednesday, Sept. 25, at 4 p.m.
Salomon Center for Teaching, De Ciccio Family Auditorium
The College Green Live stream: brown.edu/web/livestream/
“Process Versus Peace” — a lecture by Hanan Ashrawi
Thursday, Sept. 26, at 4 p.m.
Watson Institute for International Studies, Joukowsky Forum
111 Thayer St. Live stream: mediacapture.brown.edu:8080/ess/echo/presentation/b7e41534-b979-4c74-bdb0-adc0caf38483
“Critical Conversations on Palestine/Israel” — a panel discussion
Panelists include Hanan Ashrawi; Beshara Doumani, director of Middle East Studies and Joukowsky Family Distinguished Professor of Modern Middle East History; Adi Ophir, visiting associate professor at the Cogut Center for the Humanities; Omer Bartov, professor of history; Ariella Azoulay, assistant professor of comparative literature and modern culture; Sa’ed Atshan, postdoctoral fellow in international studies.
Thursday, February 27
Time and place to be announced
“Critical Conversations on Palestine/Israel” — the second panel discussion in this series
Friday, February 28, and Saturday, March 1
Time and place to be announced
“New Directions in Palestinian Studies” — a conference exploring recent trends under the theme “Political Economy and the Economy of Politics.”