HANAN ASHRAWI, PALESTINIAN PEACE ACTIVIST
AND U.VA. ALUMNA, RETURNS TO GROUNDS NOV. 11

	CHARLOTTESVILLE, Va., Nov. 7 -- How did a University of
Virginia comparative literature Ph.D. end up becoming one of the
most powerful voices for the Palestinian struggle? Battling gender
and religious stereotypes as a Christian Arab woman in a Muslim,
male-dominated world, and torn between motherhood and her cause,
Hanan Mikhail-Ashrawi rose to become a pivotal peacemaker in some of
the most monumental negotiations of our times between Israel and
Palestine. 
	Ashrawi will return to Charlottesville Saturday, Nov. 11, to
receive the Women's Center's 1995 Distinguished Alumna Award.
Author of the recently published memoir, "This Side of Peace," she
will be available at the University Bookstore to sign her book from
11 a.m. to noon and at a reception from 2 to 3:30 p.m. on Grounds in
Minor Hall's upstairs conference room. 
	Gaining recognition as a spokesperson, Ashrawi participated
in the Israeli-Palestinian peace negotiations that began in 1991 and
culminated with the handshake between Yitzak Rabin and Yasser Arafat
at the White House two years later. 
	In all her work Ashrawi embodies and stresses the human
dimensions of leadership. Offered a place in the Palestinian
government, she declined, choosing instead to establish an
independent Commission for Citizens' Rights.
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November 6, 1995
	REPORTERS:  Ashrawi will be available after the reception to
answer questions. For more information, call Anne Bromley,
University News Services, (804) 924-6861.