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Hanan Ashrawi Accepts the 2003 Sydney Peace Prize

From Sydney Morning Herald November 7, 2003

After weeks of slurs, accusations of terrorist sympathies and racial hatred, Hanan Ashrawi finally accepted the 2003 Sydney Peace Prize to polite applause and a civilised standing ovation.

Around 200 guests attended a dinner at Parliament House to witness the Palestinian scholar and MP receive the award that generated so much controversy.

Notably absent was of course Sydney Lord Mayor Lucy Turnbull, who started the brouhaha by boycotting the event because she believed Dr Ashrawi supported the destruction of Israel.

Her fellow councillor and political rival Nick Farr-Jones , former Wallaby rugby captain, pledged to buck her authority and fly from Brisbane to Sydney to attend the function but he too was nowhere to be seen.

His factional colleague and former chair of the Sydney Peace Foundation Kathryn Greiner was there, however, accepting a token of thanks for her support for Dr Ashrawi's reception.

Outside Zionist and pro-Palestinian activists staged a tandem protest/show of support for the poet and peacemaker, creating an unlikely but peaceful scene.

And all this culminated in Dr Ashrawi holding a glass outline of a dove on a small block of wood.

NSW Premier Bob Carr made clear his own affection and support for Dr Ashrawi in a speech which traced the history of conflict in the Middle East from its biblical roots.

He described her as "a defender of the fundamental rights of every human being".

Mr Carr touched also on Dr Ashrawi's veiled criticism of Cr Turnbull and expatriate Zionists who she cautioned against propagating dangerous views from safe distances. Mr, Carr said:
"Dr Ashrawi, we are all of us uncomfortably aware that for you, these things are not an academic argument.

They are the life you have lived every day."
Dr Ashrawi was effusive in her praise for the premier, who resisted calls from some Jewish lobbyists for him to snub her.

"I've rarely heard such passion and compassion and such insight into the psyche of two warring people," she said.

And putting paid to any ambiguity about her position on Israel, she reaffirmed her commitment to maintaining the Jewish state.