Hanan Ashrawi Quotes (50 Quotes)

There are people starving in the siege, there are children traumatized and terrified. There are men women and children dying. This is a situation that has reached the proportions of a tremendous humanitarian crisis. It is a tragedy and every minute that passes we lose lives and more people are brutalized and traumatized.

We have now a full and absolute American bias, ... have appointed themselves the guardian of Israel, right or wrong.

The new Israeli government must have a peace agenda, and very clearly it does not have a peace agenda, it's a policy of anti-peace,

The absence of such a charismatic figure who controls single-handedly the political apparatus will be very significant to the political map. Right now you have a weakened government. The weaker you are, the more insecure you are, and the more hard-line you are. And, of course, during elections you have heightened rhetoric, so we do not expect anything to be benign at this point.

You can't simply redefine Jerusalem. The Palestinian claim is based on legality, on the international recognition that the situation created by the war in '67 is not valid.

It has been years since a man has dared tell me that as a woman, my place is not in political life. But I know that there are others who haven't been quite so lucky.

I think they will be able to see him because he is head of state.

Control does not come from strong police forces, does not come from oppression and repression, does not come from violating people's rights or giving the security systems undue powers,

Maybe this can be an eye-opener for the United States, ... It must understand that some of its assumptions about this region -- the worthlessness of public opinion, the total bias toward Israel -- have affected its credibility and ability to maneuver in this region.

Beyond the emotionalism and the obvious sense of relief on all sides, I think that there is a recognition that reality may intrude, that perhaps the steps ahead and the days ahead are going to be much more difficult than one expects.

In view of the crisis in the peace process and the Israeli refusal to implement agreements and the continuation of its settlement activity, the Palestinian Authority took a decision not to participate.

We can't allow a group or a handful of armed groups or militias to threaten the holding of elections in a fair and free environment. We can't allow them to hijack the electoral process.

It's very clear, that while they want to shell and pound and kill and destroy Palestinian people and their institutions with total impunity, that while putting enormous pressure on the Palestinians, on their victims, to calm things down and not to respond and not to react,

He was a genuine man of the people, and he was characterized by his high sense of values, his honesty, his integrity, his unwavering commitment to his people and human dimension.

Sharon was a strong and charismatic leader who steered the politics toward the right and extremism. Now it is clear that Israel needs a leadership that proceeds strongly toward peace, or else the extremist right will hijack the situation.

Barak is going to the other extreme, he is giving the settlers too much influence, too much power.

Atmosphere of violence, instability ...

It is indeed sad to see Israeli civilians becoming victims of the volatile situation, and we hope that the violence will stop.

this is an Israeli occupation army on our land, shooting our children, besieging our cities, using tanks, using fighter helicopters, using every brutal method in order to suppress ... a civilian population on its own land.

Even if Ross were not coming to visit the region, we have learned from our experience that Netanyahu will come up with all kinds of excuses to weasel out of the obligation in the agreements (on limited Palestinian autonomy),

We want it to be a mandate that will put an end to any small group or minority trying to hijack Palestinian decision-making,

Nobody wants him to resign and I don't think he will. He understands this is a question of the national interest.

there is tremendous displeasure with the function and dysfunction of the government and the Palestinian Authority.

I'm sure Mr. Gore had his reasons and thought hard about his choice. I just hope that issues of Israeli relations do not become paramount, and that the Democratic Party and Mr. Gore will try to be more even-handed in the peace process.

It's very clear that Mr. Barak's intentions all along have been to undermine the peace process, to evade it, to avoid it,

It is not even within the boundaries of Jerusalem. Israel extended the boundaries of East Jerusalem to include disputed land and build settlements there.

Its only agenda is more death and destruction and consolidating the occupation and destroying very essence and foundations of peace.

This really exposes Barak's real intentions when it comes to peacemaking, that either (Israelis) beat (the Palestinians) into submission in accepting what (Israelis) want, or (Israel) will suspend the peace process and ... pursue a policy which is entirely anti-peace,

Dennis Ross has to be very careful if he wants to adopt the Israel priorities and the Israel discourse, and really fall prey to this deliberate campaign of fabrications of false accusations that Israel has started, and they continue to use.

The occupation is a source of violence that has to stop.

We need to stop Sharon. His lethal policies are drawing blood on both sides. That's why we need a serious intervention -- international troops. And we need to end the occupation if there is to be security for both people.

But instead of taking action, he cooked up a deal freeze everything, don't throw out the corrupt officials, sit and do nothing, grasp onto the excuse of the elections.

It seems to me as usual they are looking at the wrong address. They should look closer at home. I don't think the Sharon policy of attempting to besiege a whole people ... is a policy of utmost responsibility.

We cannot superimpose on any conflict very simple, borrowed and ready-made solutions ... The Americans constructed a simplistic paradigm for our peace process. And they expected everybody to think like Americans, to behave like Americans.

We accepted the (U.S.) initiative, trying to be helpful in getting the peace process back on track. We are not willing in any way to renegotiate the initiative ... I think the clock is ticking very fast.

We're here because we want to go to the Orient House. We're here because this is our city. It's an occupied city, I know. They have arms, they have weapons, they have police, they have mortar guns, but it is Palestinian and it is under occupation.

It's very important that they do go because we do have institutions, we do have a political hierarchy, and they have to see him,

It's clear Israel has suspended the peace process, despite the so-called moderation of the Arab world, because it has no interest in peace.

We're being shelled and bombed and assassinated and killed. Our homes are being destroyed, our children traumatized. Our livelihoods, our institutions, our infrastructure totally demolished.

Nobody should think that he is above the law. Hamas can compete through dialogue, and through political means. Everybody is requesting the PA to preserve law and order, and to build institutions otherwise we are on the verge of destruction.

If Abu Mazen wins, I'm afraid there will be payback time. Lots of people will expect to see him deliver different things on different fronts to different addresses.

Now it depends on whether he wants to rely on the extreme hard-line, right-wing, ideological, even fundamentalist elements in Israeli society. Or does he want to rely on the 50 percent or more who are committed to peace

has been unable to effect any change in the Israeli attitude. We did not see any effective political will from Dennis Ross ... to hold Israel accountable.

It's not just a question of numbers. There will be more women (in parliament) who are conscious of women's rights ... There will also be women who are not committed to equality.

Israel's policy for deliberate assassination.

This is a very serious development. We are witnessing some sort of regression in social norms. Palestine has always been famous for its tolerance, pluralism, amicable relations, lack of discrimination and sectarianism. It is quite alarming that such incidents should take place.

We need to see accountability for those whose work was exposed as abuse of position, misuse of public funds. We need to see structural reform in the executive authority, ... We need to see elimination of many existing cabinet posts. We need to see restructuring, a work plan, a real independence of the judiciary, a real separation of power and a time plan for elections.

We are still in the middle of the competition.

We know what they say, they want all of Palestine (including Israel) and say that negotiations did not work. They talk about wanting reform. That doesn't mean they will do it.

Rabin had a greater sense of the historical dimension. He was quite willing to take risks which Barak is not willing to take. Barak seems reluctant, begrudging, hesitant in terms of the peace process.