Ashrawi delivers message of hope
Apart from some minor scuffles between a handful of Palestinian supporters and pro-Jewish students before the lecture, Palestinian advocate Dr Hanan Ashrawi had a captive audience of almost 600 people.
The activist of more than four decades received a standing ovation as she entered the room and she acknowledged a bouquet of flowers from the group, Jews Against the Occupation.
Hanan Ashrawi, whose 2003 Sydney Peace Prize drew so much hostility in advance, was received warmly in Sydney last night, in what she called "this luminous instant in history".
During her speech she said the protests against her receiving a peace prize were the result of petty hatred. Dr Ashrawi said she was surprised by the hate stirred in Sydney but that she had received more positive than negative responses to her prize win.
She opposed a simplistic view which divided the world into stereotypes of good and evil, urging instead diversity and collective responsibility under international law. She held out the promise that a just solution to the Arab-Israeli conflict would unleash forces for good, democracy, regional integration and sustainable progress.
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