Word: hanan
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Words, and a dagger-sharp talent for choosing the right ones to turn tired propaganda into poignant exhortations or make diplomatic doublespeak sound incisive, are Hanan's stock in trade. Her colleagues at Bir Zeit University, where she taught English literature for 17 years, were always awed, and often overruled, by her command of the language. She could outtalk them as well in Arabic as in English. She has a good ear for saying the right thing the right way, says a member of the peace delegation -- not talking, as Palestinians are wont to do, out of two sides...
...more puzzling question is the exact nature of Hanan's importance to the peace delegation. She is adamant: "My input is substantive as well as in terms of image." She could not convey so skillfully the Palestinian position, she says, were she not central to its formulation. She insisted on being titled official, not media, spokesperson, to emphasize the substantive nature of her role. "As official spokesperson, I present the binding view...
That is not what others say. One member of the peace team disparages even her p.r. success. "It's not the person telling the story that matters," he says. "It's the willingness of the world to listen." While Hanan is a member of the "higher committee" that determines Palestinian positions in the negotiations, her colleagues differ on how influential she is there. She does not have the automatic gravitas belonging to representatives of the various factions; on the other hand, her often sound advice follows no party line. Another delegate says she is just an "excellent packager." A third...
Sometimes the Americans find that convenient. She was publicly -- well, in a background briefing, which is about as public as Washington gets -- made the scapegoat for complaints that the Palestinians were paying more attention to the TV cameras and their constituents back home than to sound negotiating positions. Hanan did not take that lying down. She telephoned directly to the official involved, a very high-ranking man, and told him just how upset she was. "She took it personally," he says, but shrugs off her dismay...
...sometimes in the dark of night it hurts. At a televised press conference not long ago, after the Israelis announced plans to deport a dozen Palestinians, one of the wives unleashed a vicious diatribe against Hanan, blaming her for compromising with the enemy. When asked to comment, she said, "I understand her bitterness." But Hanan was shocked and deeply wounded, and she hated appearing to be rejected by her own people. "Why me?" she asked her husband that night. "What...