Tawil, Raymonda Hawa (1939–)

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TAWIL, RAYMONDA HAWA (1939–)

Palestinian journalist, born in 1939 into a Greek Orthodox family at Acre. Following the Arab defeat in the Arab-Israel War (1967), she decided to devote herself to the Palestinian cause. In 1978, with journalist Ibrahim Karain, Tawil created the Palestine Press Service in Jerusalem, which, besides its newsgathering activities, provided Palestinian stringers for foreign news organizations. In September 1979, she published a book, My Country, My Prison, which won the Mamud Hamshari prize the following year, awarded by the Franco-Arab Solidarity Association. In 1983, with Ibrahim Karain, she brought out a new magazine in Jerusalem, al-Awdah (The Return). For many years Raymonda Tawil was harassed by the Israeli administration, and was put under house arrest several times. In November 1991, her daughter Suha married Yasir Arafat. Tawil and Suha now live in Paris.

SEE ALSO Arab-Israel War (1967);Arafat, Yasir Muhammad.

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