November 7, 2003	Friday	Ramazan 11, 1424

SYDNEY, Nov 6: Palestinian activist Hanan Ashrawi said on Thursday that attacks on her in Australia were worse than any she had received from Israelis, as she received Australia’s main peace prize from the city of Sydney.

Hanan Ashrawi, a veteran campaigner for Palestinian statehood and member of the elected Palestinian parliament, received the 34,500 dollars Sydney Peace Prize at a gala ceremony here.

But her choice as recipient of the prize, awarded annually by Australia’s largest metropolis, was so controversial that Sydney Mayor Lucy Turnbull boycotted the event.

Hours before the ceremony, Australian Prime Minister John Howard fuelled the controversy by joining those who claimed Ms Ashrawi did not deserve the prize because of her alleged failure to unconditionally condemn militant attacks that killed Israeli civilians.

Mr Howard said former Palestinian prime minister Mahmoud Abbas would have been a better choice for the award for his efforts to curb the influence of Palestinian Authority president Yasser Arafat.

“I simply say that on the scale of merit I certainly would have put Abu Mazen (Abbas) and some others well ahead of her,” Mr Howard said.

A vocal segment of Australia’s Jewish community lobbied furiously against the award, saying Hanan Ashrawi effectively encouraged terrorism by equating Israeli military actions against the occupied Palestinian territories to Palestinian suicide attacks on Israel. But the Sydney Peace Foundation, a non-profit organization attached to the University of Sydney and funded in part by the local government, defended its choice.

New South Wales state Premier Bob Carr, one of Australia’s most high-profile politicians, rejected calls that he boycott the award ceremony and described Ms Ashrawi as “a defender of the fundamental rights of every human being”.

“Here is a woman who talks the language of peace,” Mr Carr said as he awarded Ashrawi the prize.

Hanan Ashrawi, a scholar and spokeswoman for the Palestinian cause, expressed astonishment at the level of vitriol her presence here evoked.

“I was amazed at the degree of, not just negative response, but a certain degree of hatred, which I don’t find in even with my discussion with Israelis,” she said.

“I have never seen such a mobilization for hate language and rejection as I saw in a very, very, small minority,” she told ABC radio.

“I felt that the further away people are from the situation and the conflict the more licence they give themselves to distort and to interfere negatively. I don’t know why feelings are so high here.”

While her critics claimed Ashrawi continues to harbour the goal of destroying Israel so that Palestinians could recover all the lands they held prior to the creation of the Jewish state, she insisted in her acceptance speech on Thursday that the only solution was Israeli and Palestinian states living side-by-side.

“There can be no legitimacy for Israel without the Palestinians and there can be no legitimate Palestinian state without sharing the land of Palestine and recognizing the legitimacy of the state of Israel,” she said.

Around 200 guests attended the awards dinner while a small number of pro-Israel and pro-Palestinian activists demonstrated peacefully outside.

Mr Carr acknowledged the difficult reception Hanan Ashrawi had received.

“Dr Ashrawi, we are all of us uncomfortably aware tonight that for you, these things are not an academic argument. They are the life you have lived every day,” he said. —AFP