She was an important leader during the First Intifada; she served as the official spokesperson for the Palestinian Delegation to the Middle East Peace Process and was elected several times to the Palestinian Legislative Council. Ashrawi is a member of the Third Way party. Hanan Ashrawi serves on the advisory board of several international and local organizations including the World Bank - Middle East and North Africa (MENA), United Nations Research Institute for Social Development (UNRISD), and the International Human Rights Council. She received her BA and MA degrees in Literature in the Department of English at theAmerican University of Beirut. Ashrawi holds also a Ph.D. in Medieval and Comparative Literature from the University of Virginia. H. Ashrawi has published several works among which is This Side of Peace: A Personal Account (1995).