Author and activist Nonie Darwish will discuss women’s rights in the Middle East and the threat of Islamic fundamentalism at a lecture on Wednesday, Feb. 7, 2007. Her talk, titled “The Road to Peace: Women’s Rights,” begins at 7 p.m. in the Salomon Center for Teaching, Room 101. It is free and open to the public.

PROVIDENCE, R.I. [Brown University] — Author and activist Nonie Darwish will deliver a lecture titled “The Road to Peace: Women's Rights” Wednesday, Feb. 7, 2007, at 7 p.m. in the Salomon Center for Teaching, Room 101. The lecture is sponsored by the Office of Campus Life and Student Services and is free and open to the public.

Though Darwish grew up in Egypt learning lessons of hatred toward Jews, Israel and America, she now lectures and writes about promoting peace and mutual respect between Israel and Arab countries. She is the founder of “ArabsForIsrael.com,” a Web site “for Arabs and Muslims who support the State of Israel and the cause of peace in the Middle East” and the author of Now They Call Me Infidel: Why I Renounced Jihad for America, Israel and the War on Terror (2006).

Student organizers had proposed inviting Darwish to speak at Brown in fall 2006. The Office of Campus Life and Student Services sponsored the invitation for this semester, emphasizing the University policy to support a wide range of perspectives and ideologies on campus without regard to the content of the message or argument of any particular speaker or program.

“We believe that the University community benefits from the opportunity to be exposed to and engage in discussion with the broadest possible spectrum of ideas and positions,” said Russell Carey, interim vice president of Campus Life and Student Services. “Our intention is to help foster the vibrant and open exchange of ideas on campus – which is, of course, what a university is entirely about.” (See also Carey’s letter to the Brown community.)

The lecture will include a question and answer session with the audience. A dessert reception and a book signing will immediately follow the event.

Nonie Darwish

The daughter of a high-ranking Egyptian army officer, Nonie Darwish was born and raised as a Muslim in Cairo and Gaza. She attended British schools in Egypt as a child and received a B.A. in sociology/anthropology from the American University in Cairo. She immigrated to the
United States in 1978.

Currently a free-lance writer and translator, Darwish’s articles have been published worldwide, including in the Sunday Telegraph, Maariv, frontpagemag.com, The Jerusalem Post, and worldnetdaily.com. She is the founder of ArabsForIsrael.com. Her first book, Now They Call Me Infidel: Why I Renounced Jihad for America, Israel and the War on Terror, was published in 2006. Darwish lectures around the world, promoting peace, tolerance and mutual respect between Israel and its Arab neighbors.

Editors: Darwish is available for media interviews. Please contact the Office of Media Relations to make arrangements.

Brown University has a fiber link television studio available for domestic and international live and taped interviews, and maintains an ISDN line for radio interviews. For more information, call (401) 863-2476.

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