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This Side of Peace: A Personal Account
From the world-recognized leader of the Palestinians comes an inside view of Arafat and of the secret negotiations and last-minute decisions that led to the Oslo Peace Talks.
An insider's view of Mideast diplomacy, the PLO hierarchy, and the author's own life reveals Hanan Ashrawi's struggles as a Christian Arab woman in a Muslim, male-dominated society and chronicles her efforts for peace.
An insider's view of Mideast diplomacy, the PLO hierarchy, and the author's own life reveals Hanan Ashrawi's struggles as a Christian Arab woman in a Muslim, male-dominated society and chronicles her efforts for peace.
320 pages, Paperback
First published January 1, 1995
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Displaying 1 - 14 of 14 reviews
October 8, 2007
One woman's story of her involvement in official negotiations between Israel and the Palestinian delegation in the 80's and 90's. Not the most well-written but very insightful in terms of the situation faced by Palestinians in and outside the farce called the "peace process" and internal dynamics among Palestinian elites. A very interesting book but don't make it the only one you read about Palestine.
December 6, 2019
This Side of Peace is an wonderfully candid account of one woman's role in the Israeli-Palestinian peace talks. While she clearly admires the Palestine Liberation Organization leadership, particularly Yasser Arafat, she doesn't hold any punches either, explicitly explaining where she thought her leadership were misguided or weak. This approach lends credibility to her when she criticizes the Israeli government as well.
Dr. Ashrawi constantly accuses the Israelis for dealing in bad faith during the peace process. They continuously drag their feet and argue about technicalities rather than issues in order to stall the talks and allow Israeli settlers to populate Palestinian lands and security forces to deport Palestinians so that the talks will one day be irrelevant. The U.S. is inexplicably beholden to Israeli interests during the talks (due partly to the Israel lobby's financial contributions to American politicians and Evangelical Christians' hope to see the Holy Land in Jewish hands). She also details the double standards in which Israeli soldiers can gun down Palestinian protestors with impunity and Israeli civilians get a slap on the wrist (at most) for attempting to kill innocent Palestinians, while Palestinians are harshly dealt with as terrorists for minor (non-violent) infractions. Ashrawi herself had narrowly escaped several assassination attempts.
The book ends with the handshake between Arafat and Israeli PM Yitzhak Rabin on the White House lawn presided over by President Bill Clinton, and the subsequent awarding of the Nobel Peace Prize to Arafat, Rabin and former PM Shimon Peres. However, Ashrawi is pessimistic and cynical about the peace process at this point and has only the thinnest hope the Israelis will keep up their end of the peace agreement, a prophetic point for a book nearly 25 years old. This book certainly opened my eyes to the Palestinian reality in the Near East. Informative book by an amazing woman.
Dr. Ashrawi constantly accuses the Israelis for dealing in bad faith during the peace process. They continuously drag their feet and argue about technicalities rather than issues in order to stall the talks and allow Israeli settlers to populate Palestinian lands and security forces to deport Palestinians so that the talks will one day be irrelevant. The U.S. is inexplicably beholden to Israeli interests during the talks (due partly to the Israel lobby's financial contributions to American politicians and Evangelical Christians' hope to see the Holy Land in Jewish hands). She also details the double standards in which Israeli soldiers can gun down Palestinian protestors with impunity and Israeli civilians get a slap on the wrist (at most) for attempting to kill innocent Palestinians, while Palestinians are harshly dealt with as terrorists for minor (non-violent) infractions. Ashrawi herself had narrowly escaped several assassination attempts.
The book ends with the handshake between Arafat and Israeli PM Yitzhak Rabin on the White House lawn presided over by President Bill Clinton, and the subsequent awarding of the Nobel Peace Prize to Arafat, Rabin and former PM Shimon Peres. However, Ashrawi is pessimistic and cynical about the peace process at this point and has only the thinnest hope the Israelis will keep up their end of the peace agreement, a prophetic point for a book nearly 25 years old. This book certainly opened my eyes to the Palestinian reality in the Near East. Informative book by an amazing woman.
January 2, 2019
A mother, a wife, an educator, a Palestinian giving a tender touch to the stark Israeli and Palestinian conflicts.
July 8, 2020
A great mix of history, politics, auto-biography and an emotional novel
August 2, 2010
This Side of Peace is a memoir by Hanan Mikhail Ashrawi, who was a key spokesperson for the Palestinians in the Israeli controlled territories, primarily in the 80s and 90s. I remember seeing her a number of times on the ABC Nightline and I liked how she articulated the struggles of her people. I purchased This Side of Peace back in ‘95, but I never really got around to reading it back then.
Much of her story is similar to what I read in a biography of Yassar Arafat, but her story focuses on her work and contributions. Similar to many African American memoirs, such as The Narrative Life of Frederick Douglass, This Side of Peace while a personal story is also the story of people living and fighting under political injustice.
I didn’t realize until reading this book, however, that she was/is a Palestinian Christian. If found that interesting, but unfortunately she doesn’t reflect much about her religious background or to what extent she thinks religion has impacted the Palestinian-Israeli conflict.
She’s not every reflective in her memoir; instead she focuses more on the nightmarish meetings and negotiations leading to the “struggle for peace/” These struggles not only centered around plight of Palestinian people, but the struggle of Palestinian women, usurping their role in the movements for justice.
While This Side of Peace is not a revelatory memoir, it’s important to read it, even today, because Palestinians are living under racist Israeli occupation.
Much of her story is similar to what I read in a biography of Yassar Arafat, but her story focuses on her work and contributions. Similar to many African American memoirs, such as The Narrative Life of Frederick Douglass, This Side of Peace while a personal story is also the story of people living and fighting under political injustice.
I didn’t realize until reading this book, however, that she was/is a Palestinian Christian. If found that interesting, but unfortunately she doesn’t reflect much about her religious background or to what extent she thinks religion has impacted the Palestinian-Israeli conflict.
She’s not every reflective in her memoir; instead she focuses more on the nightmarish meetings and negotiations leading to the “struggle for peace/” These struggles not only centered around plight of Palestinian people, but the struggle of Palestinian women, usurping their role in the movements for justice.
While This Side of Peace is not a revelatory memoir, it’s important to read it, even today, because Palestinians are living under racist Israeli occupation.
June 29, 2009
Although this was written almost 15 yrs ago, it's still very interesting & unfortunately, timely, as the Palestinian/Israeli conflict drags on.
Dr. Ashrawi is a distant cousin...her father and my maternal grandmother were 1st cousins.
As expected there is a definite bias toward the Palestinian cause for statehood, however, there is also a realistic perspective of what each side needs to give in order to attain peace.
Dr. Ashrawi is a distant cousin...her father and my maternal grandmother were 1st cousins.
As expected there is a definite bias toward the Palestinian cause for statehood, however, there is also a realistic perspective of what each side needs to give in order to attain peace.
July 29, 2008
If you have never read a Palestinian perspective on the strife in Israel/Palestine, this is one book you should read. Hanan Ashrawi is a Christian who has been eloquently speaking out for decades. Elegantly written, this is a personalized account of the conflict that will change the way you think about this troubled area of the world.
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September 12, 2007From the world-recognized leader of the Palestinians comes an inside view of Arafat and of the secret negotiations and last-minute decisions that led to the Oslo Peace Talks. "A revealing document of a partisan who has helped make Middle East history".--Publishers Weekly.
March 22, 2009
Hanan is a famous Christian Palestinian who presents her side of the conflict with Israel. What an eye-opener! The info presented to Americans (and maybe even Canadians) is completely skewed and biased. Check out ifamericansknew.org to see the distortions.
August 24, 2009
A Palestinian negotiator's account of her experiences with the 1993 Israeli/Palestinian peace negotiations. A little dry in places, but it was still interesting to read about the events from a different perspective than what we usually get here in America.
June 29, 2010
Powerful!!! This was a required reading for an International Studies course. I'm the type of person who wants both sides, I crave it. This book provided that and gave a viewpoint that isn't portrayed in the media. A viewpoint that shows there needs to be peace.
October 9, 2011
It was more about the details of peace negotiations and less about personal experience than I expected. For a detailed review see: http://booksandmiscellany.wordpress.c....
August 7, 2011
I really admire this woman
June 2, 2013
I just happen to be related to Hanan and I celebrate her strength and character!
Displaying 1 - 14 of 14 reviews