.        Anti-Israel lecturer on college campuses

.        Coordinator for the pro-Palestinian media-monitoring group, Palestine Media Watch.

.        "The starvation of captive Palestinians is nothing less than the muffled ethnic cleansing of a whole people."

Born in Nablus in the West Bank, Rania Awwad is an Arab-American who once worked as a Palestine Red Cross/Red Crescent paramedic. Now a frequent speaker on college campuses in the United States, Awwad vilifies Israel and depicts the violent Palestinian Intifada as a series of largely "peaceful demonstrations" by innocent, peace-loving Palestinians resisting oppression.

Accusing the American media of bias against Palestinians, Awwad has been the Washington, DC regional coordinator for the pro-Palestinian media monitoring group, Palestine Media Watch (PMW), which exhaustively details this alleged bias, initiates letter writing campaigns, and tries to "educate" reporters and editors so they will depict the Middle East conflict as one pitting peace-seeking Palestinians against a powerful, racist state (Israel) that intentionally inflicts suffering on them. PMW ignores or justifies the Palestinians' role in the conflict. Awwad clearly shares this view, judging from articles she wrote lamenting: (a) how Israel had destroyed Christmas in Bethlehem; and (b) how most Arab-Americans and Jews want peace and a two-state solution, only to have their desires crushed by a U.S. government that is not pursuing this path because of the powerful pro-Israel lobby. One of Awwad's jobs at PMW is to write letters and to advise sympathizers about talking points they should use in their own letters.

Awwad often hooks her public presentations on the woman's angle. She has claimed that the Intifada is characterized by Palestinian and Jewish women working together, "showing the way to pursue peace." She also frequently takes an angle tied to her science background (she holds a PhD in genetics from George Washington University). Early in the conflict, she wrote that Israel was attempting "ethnic cleansing through starvation," and she detailed the alleged malnutrition among Palestinian children.

Though Awwad's early articles got wide distribution on anti-Israel websites, she was not a prominent activist at that time; nor did she go on lecture tours. However, in 2004 she became more visible. She began working with Huwaida Arraf of the International Solidarity Movement; she was elected to the Steering Committee of End the Occupation, a coalition of pro-Palestinian activists; and she became active in the campaign against Caterpillar for its sales of "home-smashing" bulldozers to Israel. She also began lecturing on campuses.

Among the public statements Awwad has made are the following:

.        "The starvation of captive Palestinians is nothing less than the muffled ethnic cleansing of a whole people."

.        "`Intifada' comes from an Arabic word signifying a 'shaking up' or 'shaking off.' And the Palestinian intifada has lived up to this meaning by shaking off the Israeli occupation…"

.        "As Israel wages a comprehensive war against the Palestinian people, it also is sabotaging the critical work of medical crews and humanitarian groups. Reports of blatantly illegal actions on the part of the Israel Defense Forces are streaming out of the West Bank."

.        "Today, with the second Intifada of 2000 raging in full force, women continue to assume important roles in leading peaceful demonstrations and setting up popular relief committees"

.        "Over 50,000 Palestinians have been made homeless by Caterpillar bulldozers. Many Palestinians have been crushed to death while their homes are being demolished. CAT profits from the wholesale destruction of Palestinian homes and livelihoods, and U.S. taxpayers are footing the bill."

This profile is adapted, with permission, from Stand4Facts.org.