Palestinian Leader to Discuss Peace Process

Media Advisory

PALESTINIAN LEADER TO DISCUSS PEACE PROCESS, NATION BUILDING

Hanan Ashrawi, Palestinian Minister of Higher
Education and a leader of the PLO delegation to the Madrid Peace Conference
(1991-1993), will visit the Rice University campus on Friday, Oct. 18, to
discuss the Middle East Peace process and the building of a new Palestinian
nation.

Ashrawi will be available for media interviews at 5 p.m. in the Meyer
Conference Room of the Ley Student Center. The student center can be reached by
taking Entrance 13 off Rice Boulevard.

Also, Ashrawi will deliver a talk titled “Challenges Facing the Palestinians:
Nation Building and the Peace Negotiations,” in room 124 Herring Hall starting
at 7 p.m.

Ashrawi was elected as a member of the Palestinian Legislative Council in
January. She was then selected by Yasar Arafat, president of Palestine, as
Minister of Higher Education for the new nation. She and Arafat have differing
views on how their nation should be developed.

Ashrawi’s visit to Rice is part of the School of Humanities Arab Lecture
Series. It is co-sponsored by the James A. Baker III Institute for Public
Policy, the Shell Lecture Series, and the Arab-American Education Foundation.

To participate in the news briefing or to cover Ashrawi’s speech, please
contact Michael Cinelli, director of the Rice University News Office, at (713)
831-4794 or by E-mail at mcinelli@rice.edu.

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